Iron Maiden
by Whovian of a Thousand Words
Summary: Eventually, Estelle Stark will become a hero, like her father before her. Until then, she fights loyally at his side. Loki notices her and is intrigued. Cunning and dastardly is the God of Mischief, Magic, Chaos and Lies. So he takes Estelle away to his castle in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle little star, how Daddy wonders where you are?
1. Prologue: Balancing Equations

_**A/N:**__ Drama and fluff this first chapter as well as massive science stuff. I did my research, so it all should be pretty accurate. Side note: Dr. Klaus __Fischer is a one-chapter character and he isn't really real. _

_This is going to be quite the epic story, if all goes well. I'm thinking it will, but you never know, do you? And who am I to say that it is going to be epic? It could be a spectacular failure! Who knows? I sure don't! Ugh, my head hurts... _ _

_Also: I can't write romance. At all. Ever. So if this seems like complete and utter crap to you, it probably is to everyone else and I am very, very sorry. But practice makes permanent, yes? (That's what my eighth grade algebra teacher always said.)_

_Anywho! Here's the prologue! Enjoy!_ :)

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Prologue – Balancing Equations

Bruce Banner sighed as Pepper Potts and Tony Stark stormed into the living room. They were shouting at one another, both red in the face and slightly hoarse. Bruce had grown so accustomed to these fights that The Other Guy didn't even stir. He disappeared behind that morning's paper.

Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov rolled their eyes. These fights between Pepper and Tony were getting to be quite regular. They were up to once in the morning and usually one every three nights or so. Natasha picked up a knife and began to butter a piece of toast, barely even paying attention. Clint poured himself another cup of coffee and nonchalantly ducked when the TV remote came sailing through the air towards his head.

Steve Rodgers gave a sigh similar to Bruce's. He picked up the remote and the batteries that had popped out when it hit the floor. He may have been from the forties, but the Captain knew exactly how to replace batteries.

Even Thor, who normally had something to say about everything, was quiet at this outburst between the humans. He picked up Mjölnir and a small towel and began casually polishing the hammer, his foot resting on his knee as he sat on the couch.

"I just want to know why, Tony!" Pepper yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Why would you leave me?" Steve rose his eyebrows in surprise, but kept his eyes on what he was doing. "Tony, we've been together for almost two years! And when I simply ask about your thoughts of us ever having children, you break the relationship?" Clint and Thor both looked up in surprise and watched. Pepper put her hands to her face and sobbed. _"Why T-Tony, why?!"_

"I could never make you happy, Pepper!" Tony yelled back. "There are just... things about me that would put you through too much pain!"

"As if you being Iron Man wasn't enough!" Pepper snarled through her tears.

"This isn't about that—!"

"Oh but it is!" She growled, cutting across him and glaring with menace. "This has everything to do with you being a superhero!" Now Bruce, Natasha and Steve were also looking at what was unfolding before them. The fights had never taken this turn before. "You don't want to shatter your image by tying yourself down to someone—"

"No, you don't understand, I—"

"—getting married—"

"Please listen, I—!"

"—and raising a family—!"

"_Pepper I'm sterile!"_

Silence lapsed for what seemed like forever. A pin could've dropped three floors down and they would've heard it. Pepper stood with her mouth agape, a thunderstruck look on her face. Clint's mouth hung open. Natasha, Bruce and Steve shared stupefied expressions. Thor dropped Mjölnir with an almighty _bang! _Tony's eyes were downcast and clouded with sorrow and self-hatred.

"Well, I brought it up, might as well tell you all now." He scratched his beard and thought. "I've known for a while. I had a serious girlfriend when I was about... hmm, twenty-two. Her name was June Grant. We'd been together in college and we were going on five years together. We wanted to try for kids, but didn't want marriage. I don't know anymore... We were young and stupid..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Anyway, we had tried again and again with no luck. Finally, we both got worried and went in for testing. June was fine. Goddamn perfect ovaries for making babies. I, on the other hand, didn't fare so well."

Tony sat down on the steps that lead to the living room. He ran his hands through his dark hair. "It's a condition called Sertoli cell-only syndrome, specifically testicular azoospermia. Means I don't have any sperm in my semen. At all. Normally, they'd be able to treat it. Not cure it, but make it so that kids _might_ be possible. But thanks to my extraordinary drinking habits, I might as well have had dead testicals," he scoffed. "Needless to say, when June found out she thought I was diseased or some shit. Got the hell out of the relationship. Haven't heard from her since. And that was a little under twenty years ago," he slumped forward. "Sometimes I wonder what happened to her. She was a nice girl."

Pepper sat down next to Tony and held his shoulder. "Tony... I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

"I know, Pepps. But see, I didn't _want _you to know. I didn't want anyone to know," his cheeks were tinged ever so slightly with pink. "It's... It's embarrassing, you know? And..." he sighed heavily. "I may not seem like it most of the time, but I think it would be really cool to have a kid. I see all these people with their kids and they look real happy. I mean, I'd like to feel that kind of happy towards something I created. Something sentient and part of me."

"Well, that actually might be possible."

Everyone turned to Bruce, who was looking at Tony over the rims of his glasses. Tony had a look of such hope on his face that Bruce was surprised the man didn't run over and kiss him. Then again, he was privately glad that he didn't. "It's a very new development, though. Purely experimental. Basically, testicular germ cells of mice are placed in an agar culture and developed through vitro culture conditioning. The germ cells would be able to reach final spermatogenesis stages, including spermatozoa generation. If used in humans, it could potentially allow infertile men to father children with their own sperm."

"Bruce," Tony said hoarsely, "if there is any possible way that you could hook me up—?"

"Like I said Tony. Purely experimental." Tony's face fell harder and faster than a tennis ball dropped from the top of the Empire State Building. But Bruce suddenly smiled. "Though, I do have a buddy over at Münster University, where they're doing this research."

Steve frowned. "Münster University...? Isn't that in Germany?"

Bruce nodded. "No worries, Steve. Klaus is a really nice guy. His family got out of Germany during WWII; they're Jewish. They actually came to New York around the same time you started making headlines." The Captain nodded stiffly. "Anyway that's beside the point," Bruce continued, "Klaus owes me a favor and I'll get him to look into this for you, alright Tony?"

"I..." Tony shook his head, completely awe-struck. "I don't know what to say, Bruce. If there's anything, _anything_ at all that I could ever do to make us even after this, you can have it, no questions asked. I don't care how much it costs or how far away we'd have to go to get it, you'll have it."

A tricky smile worked its way onto the doctor's face. "Well, I can think of one thing," he said. "If this works, I get to be godfather."

"Done!" Tony said without hesitating.

* * *

Dr. Klaus Fischer was just as nice as Bruce said he would be (even Steve approved). Klaus was a few years younger than Tony and three inches shorter than him. His mousey brown hair was flecked with gray despite his age. Laugh lines crinkled around his smiling hazel eyes.

The doctor was flown to New York directly from the university by Clint and Natasha. When he arrived and was introduced, Klaus then sat down with Pepper and Tony and talked even more about the procedure than Bruce did and in vastly greater detail. By the end, Tony's head was spinning and Pepper looked just as lost.

"Do not worry." Klaus had said. "It should go well. Our research has shown zat if used in humans, infertile men will be able to fahzzer zeir own chill-dren."

Several weeks (and mountains of paperwork) later, the batch of sperm was ready.

* * *

Tony sat on the couch in the living room, weaving and unweaving his fingers. It had been three days. Klaus had said, before he was flown back to Germany, that after the batch had been administered into Pepper, three days should do it. Tony's mind was reeling and he was very worried that he might throw up if he waited any longer.

Silence still hung in the air. Everyone was out doing something. Tony half suspected that they knew that it was the third day and wanted to give him and Pepper some space. How thoughtful of them. A burning, itching impatience surged in him as the minutes ticked by. He shot to his feet and paced about the room, picking up various object and turning them over in his hands before placing them back where they belonged.

The door to the bathroom opened. Tony froze and spun to look at Pepper. Her face was emotionless. His heart thudded in his throat. He swallowed painfully. "W-Well?" He managed to choke out. Pepper walked over to him, took his hands in hers and sat down with him on the couch. She looked up at him with tears shining in her eyes. "Oh no..." He muttered, his hopes flying, flying, falling, crashing and burning. "It... It didn't work at all, did it...?"

Pepper shook her head. "It's not that it didn't work _at all_, Tony," a beautiful smile crossed her lips. "It's that it worked _perfectly." _She squeezed his hand. "I'm pregnant."

Time stood still. Ice filled Tony's body and his chest seized up. He felt like he couldn't breathe. And everything was beautiful. Colors were vibrant and bright. Every sound was music written by a master composer. Nothing could ever go wrong on this day. Everything was right with the world.

Tony vaulted to his feet, picked Pepper up and swung her around. He couldn't even speak; every word he uttered was nonsense. And yet it all made sense. Pepper laughed and hugged him tightly as her feet touched the ground again. A burning love filled Tony's every molecule and he pressed his lips passionately to hers. Not a lustful passion, but a passion that was sweeter than honey. The kind of loving care that Tony had felt the moment he had seen Pepper for the first time. A beautiful, boundless love that swelled in him like a balloon made of indestructible fibers.

They broke apart and Pepper laced their fingers together, resting her forehead on his. "I hope this means we aren't broken up anymore," she whispered it as her lips danced over his, the lightest touch of them sending him over the moon.

"Never again," Tony breathed, gazing at her with all the love he possessed. He was completely transfixed by her beautiful blue eyes. He smiled a radiant smile, one that had rarely seen the light of day. "Oh god Pepper... I love you so much." Tears streamed down his face and he held her close to him. She shivered slightly as the arc reactor's cold metal touched her. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you so much..."

"Tony, you don't have to cry!" Pepper said when she saw the little tracks of moisture. She wiped them away with her finger.

"Speak for yourself," he retorted, grinning at the fact that she was crying more than he was. He broke away from her and clasped both her hands in his. "I want to make everything perfect," he said, a determined fire blazing in his dark eyes. "I don't want a single thing out of place. Not a single loose end. Which means I still have to do one thing," that handsome, devilish smile crossed his face. "Wait here, I'll be right back." He dashed down to the lab and didn't return for several minutes.

When Tony bounded back up the stairs and stopped in front of Pepper, he wore a giddy sort of smile on his face, as if he were a school boy looking through a toy store window at Christmas. "Pepper," he said, his nerves on end, "you have always been there for me, even in my darkest hours. You've given me so much and you're going to be giving me the greatest gift I could ever receive. So... So now it's my turn to give you a gift." He stooped and stood before her on one knee. "Pepper... I don't want to spend a day without you," he reached into his pocket and took out a small silver-colored metal band with a tiny engraving that read: _Forever and Always._ Pepper clapped her hands to her mouth and her tears of joy flooded her face. "Being an inventor, I simply invented a way to fix that. But it only works if both sides of the equation are equal. So now all that's left is to balance the equation." He held the ring up to her. "Will you marry me, Virginia 'Pepper' Potts?"

Pepper nodded vigorously, crying, "Yes, yes Tony! Yes!" He slipped the ring on her finger and stood. "I've never been so happy in my entire life..." She sobbed.

"You've made my life worth living, Pepper." Tony said as he pulled her into a fiery, blissful kiss.

* * *

"Would you sit down and calm down, Tony? You're making me dizzy." Clint complained.

Tony shot the archer a glare and continued pacing. He felt his heart thumping in his chest at breakneck speed. "Can't calm down." He muttered. "Can't. Not now."

"Do not worry yourself, Man of Iron," Thor said reassuringly, clapping Tony on the shoulder. Tony flinched as a cry of pain echoed from behind the closed door. "Fret not for your wife, Stark. I am confident in the abilities of human physicians." Thor gave him a bright smile. "She and your child will be quite well."

"Thanks, Point Break." Tony mumbled. Despite his monotone, he truly meant that thanks. He didn't stop pacing up and down the waiting room though. Every fiber of his being was on high alert. What was taking so long? He had been waiting for—he glanced at his watch—four hours and seventeen minutes. It was two twenty-four in the morning. Steve nodded off every minute or so while a sleeping Natasha rested her head on Clint's shoulder. The archer had dark circles under his eyes and he took a sip of coffee now and then. Thor stood with Tony, quite awake but not speaking often. Bruce had gone into the room to help. Tony ran his fingers through his hair with his right hand and spun his wedding band around his finger with his left thumb.

He jumped a mile when he heard another yell of pain from the other side of the door, the loudest one yet. His heart raced at double time and he froze where he stood. Steve had jumped up, his eyes slightly glazed but completely alert. Natasha had sat bolt upright, every bit of her crackling to attention. Thor and Clint both tensed. Everyone looked at the door.

It opened.

Tony thought his heart would burst from his chest, it was beating so hard. Bruce poked his head out, eyes twinkling. "Get in here, Tony," he said with a smile. Tony didn't need telling twice. He was in the room in a blink of an eye. In almost no time, he was right beside Pepper.

"How are you, babe?" He asked, holding her hand. She looked over to him, her face pale and sweaty. She managed a smile nonetheless.

"Just fine, Tony," she murmured. "You look like hell."

"I'm sure you feel it more than me." He noted. She laughed and squeezed his hand.

"Ahem, Mr. and Mrs. Stark?"

"Yes?" They answered at the same time.

The nurse in red scrubs walked over to them, holding a bundle of cloth and wearing an enormous smile. "Congratulations," she handed the bundle to Pepper. "It's a girl."

"A girl?" Pepper said faintly, a radiant smile on her face as she held the child to her chest.

In all of Tony's life, he had never seen anything more beautiful than the sight of his newborn baby daughter fast asleep in the arms of his wife. His daughter. Oh god. _His daughter._ He couldn't believe he could say that. She was perfect in every way. A small tuft of dark hair peeked out from under the swath of cloth. Tony's hair. Her nose was exactly like his. The shape of her mouth was a replica of his. She looked _just like him._ She stirred, opening her eyes. If Tony thought he knew love before, he was completely wrong. The moment his daughter looked at him with those periwinkle blue eyes, he felt an overwhelming flood of devotion to the tiny human before him. She had every quality of Tony. Except her eyes. Her beautiful ocean blue eyes. Just like her mother's.

Pepper looked at Tony and felt everything that he did and more. She loved him with all of her heart. And it was because of him that they had created this wonderful child. Their daughter. "Here Tony," Pepper said, shifting to hand their daughter to him. "She's all yours."

With shaking hands, Tony held his daughter in his arms for the first time. One tiny fist reached out of the blankets and waved around. Tony caught it in his hand. Her small hand fit perfectly into his. Tears swelled on the corners of his eyes. He took a shuddering breath. "Hey there, sweetheart" he said to her. "I'm Tony. I'm your Daddy. This is Pepper, she's your Mommy. And we both love you... So much." He wiped his eyes. "What're we gonna call her?" He asked, tearing his eyes away from his perfect daughter.

"I like Maria... for her middle name. Maria... After your mom." Pepper said thoughtfully, resting her head on the pillow. Her eyelids were fluttering closed every now and again, her exhaustion evident. "What do... What do you want, Tony? You pick her first name."

_Oh god why._ That was the most important job. He felt a bit overwhelmed. Tony glanced out the window and up into the sky. He held his daughter closer and noticed that she had fallen asleep again. "Let's call her Estelle," he said with determination. "Estelle Maria Stark."

Pepper smiled, her eyes barely open now. "I love it." She murmured before slipping into sleep as well.

Tony placed Estelle in the crook of Pepper's arm. She felt the presence and held the little girl closer to her body. Tony took Pepper's hand in his. "I love you both." He whispered. "My girls..." With that, he too joined his family in slumber.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ SO. MUCH. FLUFF. *dies from fluff overload* _

_Sorry if that seemed rushed, but I wanted to keep this short so we could get to the actual story. Yes, three thousand plus words is a short prologue. Work with me people; I'm sleep deprived and being buried by the fluffiness of the story thus far! The drama and adventure and other such shenanigans will begin with the first chapter which should be up next week, after the holiday._ :)

_Thanks for reading and please review! (hearts)_

_Cheers,_

_M_


	2. One: First Strike

_**A/N:**__ I'm skipping through Estelle's childhood and jumping straight into the action. Sort of action. I don't know; it's just an expression! _

_There was quite a response to that prologue! I'm very pleased about that. Four follows, two reviews, one favorite! Molto bene! Let's hustle right into this one. Chapter one is up! Enjoy! _:)

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter One – First Strike

"I don't like him."

"Of course you don't, Daddy, he's my date to senior prom."

"Can I please just get the suit out? Just this once?"

"No, Tony."

"Oh c'mon Pepper! Look, I'll just get out one glove and answer the door with it."

"Daddy!"

"I've got a bad feeling about him, that's all. Can't I just—"

"Tony!"

"Fine!"

"_Sir, Charles Moray is waiting at the door. He appears to have flowers for Miss Estelle."_

The Starks stopped arguing at the sound of JARVIS announcing Estelle's date. She grinned widely, a smile she inherited from her father. She made to run to the door, but Tony strode ahead of her, a strained look on his face. Estelle huffed and crossed her arms across her purple and black dress. The sequins caught the light and sparkled against the dark fabric. It made her look like a piece of the night sky. Her long brown hair was done up in an elegant knot and adorned with deep purple faux jewels.

Tony threw open the door and forced a smile. "Charles Moray."

"Mr. Stark, sir," Charles greeted, his hands behind his back hiding the flowers. His startling, electric blue eyes lit up when he saw Estelle. "Hey, Stel!" He was a tall boy with flaming red hair and freckles splashed across his nose. He had rented a nice tuxedo with a bowtie. A red rose was pinned to his lapel. He shifted on the balls of his feet, nervously regarding Tony Stark.

"Hi there, Charles, I'm Pepper Stark, Estelle's mother," Pepper noticed her husband glaring at the boy and felt the need to step in. "Why don't you come in?"

"Oh, yes. Thank you, ma'am. And you can call me Charlie, if you want."

"Just Mrs. Stark, thank you dear." She smiled.

Estelle rushed forward and hugged him. "Hi Charlie!" She said, her blue eyes sparkling. "You look very dapper in a tux."

"You look pretty amazing, yourself," he said, blushing into the roots of his red hair. "Oh, here..." He took out a corsage with a red rose to match his. He wrapped around her wrist. He brought out the flowers. "I-I got these for you, Stel. I know snapdragons are your favorite..." Little blue flowers tied with a silver bow. Estelle smiled.

"Alright, that's enough," Tony said loudly. Charlie jumped a mile.

"Y-Yes, yes sir!" He stammered.

"Rules."

"Yes, sir."

"First, you will take her to prom and bring her home. No stops on the way to or from, got it?" Charlie nodded. "Second, no funny business. Don't think I don't know how to read the signs. I know every trick in the book." Charlie nodded again and twisted his fingers anxiously. "Third and most important," Tony stepped closer until he and Charlie were inches apart. Thank god he was an inch or two taller than him. "If you break her heart," the arc reactor glowed ominously, "you will be very, _very, _sorry."

Charlie floundered for words, his face drained of all color. "I... Yes, I..."

"I make it a point to associate myself with the best," Tony whispered. "And I think you know who I mean, don't you?" Silence. Tony raised his eye brows. "Well? Do you?"

"Oh! Yes, yes I do sir," Charlie said, some blush lighting up his face. "See, I thought it was rhetorical so I didn't—"

"Yeah, yeah, fine." Tony said, waving his hand. "Do you understand the rules? Good. Now let Pepper take your picture with Estelle or whatever moms do on prom night." He walked over to the bar and poured himself a generous amount of scotch. After a multitude of pictures, Estelle walked over to Tony and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Daddy?" He turned around to look at her. "I have to go now."

Tony forced a smile. "Yep, alright," he said hoarsely.

Estelle rolled her blue eyes. "Honestly. It's not like I'm leaving forever!"

"All the same, I want you to be careful, princess," Tony leaned closer. "D'you still have the pepper spray I gave you?"

"Yes I—"

"And the taser?"

Estelle's eyes widened. "A taser?"

"Yeah, I slipped that into your purse when you were—"

"Daddy, you put a_ taser_ in my purse?!" She hissed.

"Emergency usage only." Tony said. He sighed and took her hands in his. "I just worry about you, Estelle. I want you to be safe." He put a hand on her cheek. "I still sometimes forget how much you've grown. Sometimes, I see you when you were four and helping me build robots and improve the suit in the lab." He smiled sadly. "To me, you'll always be my little girl."

Estelle offered a half smile, her eyes sparkling. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed. "I love you, Daddy."

Tony pulled her into a hug as well. "I love you too, my star princess."

* * *

Tony stood on the terrace after they left. Despite all of Pepper's reassurance, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He trusted his daughter without question. But that guy... Charlie Moray... Tony felt like he wasn't someone to be trusted.

"She'll be fine, Tony," Steve said, walking out onto the balcony. He leaned on the railing and looked out over the city. "Estelle's a young lady now. She can make her own choices."

"It's not that I don't trust Estelle, I do," Tony said slowly. "It's just that guy seriously put me off. I don't know; there was this weird feeling that I got about him."

Steve frowned. "Like a bad feeling?"

"Yeah. But it was probably—"

"I felt that too."

Tony whirled around the face the Captain directly. "You did?" He asked, completely breathless.

"It was just a little feeling," Steve said quickly, seeing the fiery, raging look in Tony's eyes. "Just a really quick thing in passing. I walked past them on my way through the lobby and he gave me this look... I just can't explain it..."

The gears in Tony's head began moving at a breakneck speed. A jolt of electricity surged through him as he came to the worst and most likely conclusion. "What seemed the most familiar?" He asked in a deadly serious tone.

Steve thought for a moment. "Well, I think it was the eyes. It was the color, that bright blue. He just seemed..." Steve paled. "No." He whispered. "You aren't thinking—?"

"I am, are you?"

"I don't want to, but yeah."

"No, no, no, no, no..." Tony muttered as he ran down to the lab, Steve right at his heels, calling to him.

"Tony, I know what you're thinking, don't do it! You promised you wouldn't use the suit! Tony stop! Don't do it!"

"I can do whatever the hell I want, Rodgers!" Tony hissed, rounding on Steve with blazing eyes. "She is _my_ daughter. She's in danger and dammit, I am going after her."

"But Tony, you don't know for sure if—"

"_Sir,"_ JARVIS's automated voice called. _"Miss Estelle has activated her suit. She is flying here now in deep distress."_

Tony had a look of horror and triumph on his face. He pushed past Steve and practically flew up the stairs. He got to the landing pad just as Estelle's suit of armor was finished being dismantled. The one-piece black and blue leotard that she wore under her suit was the only thing she was wearing. She held her tattered and ruined dress in her hand as well as her purse. The strap had broken on the one side of it. Her make up streamed down her face in runny trails. She was missing her shoes and her hair was in complete disarray.

"_Estelle!"_ Tony dashed to his daughter. She gave a choked sob and threw herself into her father's arms, dropping everything she was holding. "Oh my god... Oh god, Estelle..." He murmured, clutching her tightly to him. "What did he do?" He growled. "What did that bastard do to you?!"

Estelle just shook her head, unable to speak.

Pepper ran to the door. "Tony, what's going on? Steve told me to—" She shrieked in horror when she saw her sobbing daughter. "Estelle!" Pepper ran over to them. Estelle turned and embraced her mother, holding onto her as if she were a lifeline. "Estelle, oh god baby what happened? You've only been gone fifteen minutes!"

"I'm going to kill that guy," Tony snarled. "I'll put a bomb down his miserable throat," he was visibly shaking with rage.

"Why? What did he do?" Pepper demanded with wide eyes.

"Y-You can't, Daddy!" Estelle sobbed, looking at her father.

Tony crossed his arm and glared. "And just why can't I?" He demanded.

"Ch-Charlie's... Charlie's dead!" She cried. "He, he was protecting me from th-this other guy. He c-came out of n-nowhere and made a m-move at me. He had some sort of w-weird knife and Charlie... He... He th-threw himself in f-f-front of me!" Estelle buried her face in her mother's shoulder.

Tony felt all rage slip away. Instead there was nothing but guilt. "He died protecting you?" He asked hoarsely. Estelle nodded. Oh god. Tony felt awful. Charlie had sacrificed his own life for Estelle's. Tony had thought that Charlie was being mind-controlled by... "What did the other man look like, Estelle? Who killed Charlie?"

Estelle took a few seconds to breathe and calm down. Then she looked at her father. "He was really tall, about six two I think. Long black hair that was really greasy looking and slicked back. Um... bright green eyes, really pale and thin. He looked like he had some sort of cross between a leather coat and a medieval tunic on. Lots of green and black. There were also gold armory bits. His knife looked almost like a staff with a blade on it and..." Estelle stopped and looked from her mother to her father. They both wore the same mortified expression. "What? What is it? Who was he?"

"Bad," Tony finally whispered. "Really, really bad."

"You need to get ahold of Thor. Now." Pepper said in a deadly tone. "He needs to know about this, that he escaped."

"Escaped?" Estelle's eyes widened. "Who's escaped? Why do you need to tell Thor about that guy? Daddy, what's going on?"

Tony hesitated. "Loki's back."

* * *

"That is impossible, Man of Iron!" Thor boomed. "Even if my brother were to escape, which is unlikely—"

"My daughter doesn't lie!" Tony shouted.

"That was not what I was suggesting!"

Estelle sat in her room a floor below the living room. She had cleaned off her face and pulled her hair back into a loose pony-tail. She was still wearing her armor leotard.

The voices of her father and Thor could be very clearly heard even through the thick ceiling. Estelle sighed shakily and curled up on her bed. A few tears leaked from her eyes as she remembered what had happened.

That man—Loki, as Daddy and Thor called him—had walked right out into the street in front of their car. Charlie had swerved to avoid him, but had mounted the curb and smashed into a light post. People screamed and ran when Loki had approached the car. Charlie's head was bleeding from somewhere and he had moved towards Estelle, trying to make sure she was okay.

"_Stel... Stel can you hear me? Are you okay?"_

"_I'm fine... What happened? Where's that man?"_

"_I think he's over— ESTELLE LOOK OUT!"_

Estelle winced. That was when Charlie had jumped over the seat and...

"_Well, well. A young hero protecting his love. How touching."_

That voice. Smooth like velvet.

"_St-Stel..." _

Charlie's voice gurgling as the blood from his stomach was forced up his throat and out of his mouth.

"_He bought you some time, Daughter of Tony Stark. Are you not going to thank him?"_

"_Es...telle... R-Run!"_

"_I can't leave you!"_

"_Go! Now!" _

"_Charlie..."_

"_It... okay. I... I love y..." The blade was shoved through his heart this time. Estelle screamed._

"_Sentiment..." Loki growled. Charlie convulsed once and was quite still. Loki's burning green eyes turned to Estelle. "Well? You heard the boy." A feral, hungry smile crossed his lips. "Run."_

Estelle curled into a tighter ball, trying to shut out the memory. Her tears wouldn't stop. Everything hurt. Those green eyes... They were haunting and horrible. There was no pity in them. Only malice. And a hunger for something else. The way he had looked at her... She knew what he had wanted. Estelle sobbed and covered her face with her hands.

"Ch-Charlie... I'm s-so sorry..."

"He cannot hear you. Why bother trying to speak to him?"

The blade of a knife softly caressed her neck. Estelle wanted to scream, but the sound was frozen in her throat.

"That's right, Daughter of Stark. Do not scream. Now sit up." She hesitated. The blade was pushed onto her neck a little harder. "I said _sit up."_ She gasped as the blade sliced her neck slightly. Droplets of blood welled on the cut. "How unfortunate to tarnish one as lovely as you with a wound of the flesh..."

She was forcibly turned around. And there he was. Those eyes, that voice, that smile.

Loki.

"Hello, my dear." He whispered. His eyes seemed to glow with ravenous lust. Estelle opened her mouth to scream. "Do not even consider it," he said, closing her mouth and putting a slender finger against her lips. "It would be a shame to have to kill you."

"My... My father..."

"What?" He sneered, bringing his face even closer to hers. "What will Stark do? He is unaware of my presence in this room. He can do nothing." That Cheshire smile crossed his lips again. "I suppose I could take you now..."

"Take...?"

"Are you hard of hearing, my dear? Yes, _take." _He stroked her face with one finger. "I wonder? Will you scream my name as—?"

"Get your filthy hands off my daughter."

The sound of a repulser beam blasting Loki off his feet and away from Estelle shook the whole room. She looked up and saw her father standing there in full armor. "'Sup Reindeer Games? Long time no see."

"Quite." Loki replied as he stood, clutching his stomach. "I see you have improved your armor since we last did battle. How long has it been, Stark?"

"A little under twenty years." He replied with venom.

"You have aged greatly," Loki hissed, a serpentine smile on his countenance. "And yet I remain young. The odds are not in your favor."

"Like I said last time," Tony said. A roar echoed through the tower. He smirked. "We have a Hulk."

Loki paled and disappeared in a shimmering cloud of gold. Estelle let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She wrapped her arms around herself and cried. Tony flipped up his mask and walked quickly over to her.

"Estelle," he said, clutching her hands. "It's okay, princess, it's alright. He's gone."

She threw her arms around him and sobbed into his metal shoulder.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Whoooo! Done! How was that?_ :D

_So I had a migraine last night and slept through Thanksgiving dinner. I KNOW. It was awful. But I woke up early this morning and ate ALL the leftovers! Hahahaha! Then I cranked out this chapter like no body's business. _

_I hope you liked this chapter. I've never written Dark!Loki before, so I don't know if he was any good. Hey! I've got a great idea! Why don't you leave a review and tell me?_ :D _That's a nice plan, let's do that! You can also just leave a review because that's the nice thing to do. *hint hint*_

_I hope everybody had an awesome turkey-filled Thanksgiving! I love all y'all and I'll see you in a couple of days._ :3

_Cheers,_

_M_


	3. Two: Getting His Way

_**A/N:**__ Oh boy, I am on FIRE with this updating thing today! _:D_ I've never had a two-in-one day! Y'all better count yourselves lucky! _;3

_You people sure liked that first chapter! We're up to five followers, four reviews and still standing at one favorite! Aww, thank you so much! _:)_ "Fan-TAS-tic!" as the Ninth Doctor says! _

_But seriously, thanks again guys. I didn't think people would take such a liking to this story. You guys rule. And an especially big thanks to _NotWithoutYou _for giving some huge pointers and an idea for the future. _;)_ You get some virtual brownies! But this story wouldn't be possible without all of you guys reviewing and favoriting and following. It really is amazing to see how much people like this. Writing wouldn't be worth it if I didn't have such fabulous people like you to keep me going. Gah, I'm getting sentimental. *wipes tears away*_

_Alright lovelies, chapter two is up! Enjoy! _:3

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Two – Getting His Way

Estelle spent the night awake. She couldn't sleep with the memories of Charlie's death and Loki's invasion of her home in her mind. The god had made advances on her. He _wanted_ her. The thought of it was enough to make her sick. She leaned on Tony's shoulder and watched as he typed lines of code into JARVIS's system. He was installing a new security system that would look specifically for Loki's spell signature. If he even so much as sneezed on the bricks of Stark Tower's exterior, they would know.

"Wouldn't it be 'exterior fnct' after the colon?" She asked, pointing out his error. Tony blinked and read over the line again.

"Oh, you're right, princess. Thanks," he smiled and backspaced, then entered the correct letters.

She nestled closer to him and shivered. She couldn't forget that look in Loki's eyes; the look that said he was going to get what he wanted. She couldn't forget the feeling of his finger tracing the lines of her face. His cold, cold flesh. His smile was that of an animal with those pointed white teeth. The feeling of his icy breath on her face and neck sent chills down her spine.

"_Es...telle... R-Run!"_

"_I can't leave you!"_

"_Go! Now!" _

"_Charlie..."_

"_It... okay. I... I love y..."_

Far away, her father was calling her name. "Estelle, Estelle look at me! Estelle!"

_Loki's burning green eyes turned to Estelle. "Well? You heard the boy." A feral, hungry smile crossed his lips. "Run."_

"_Say my name."_ His voice. He was here!

"No..."

"Estelle!"

"_Say it."_

"Estelle, please, it's okay!"

"_Say my name!"_

"Estelle!"

"_SAY IT!"_

"NOOO!" She screamed and flipped off the sofa. She covered her body with her arms and looked around for him. Tony sat completely frozen, looking at his petrified daughter. "Don't touch me! I won't say it! Leave me alone!"

He regained his senses. He jumped up and took her in his arms, holding on despite her thrashing and yelling. "It's okay, Estelle. He's not here. He can't hurt you. Come back to me, Estelle. Come back. You're okay. I won't let him hurt you," he pulled his fingers through her hair soothingly. Gradually, she calmed down. She held onto him as if he were the only physical thing left in the world. Tony took a shaky breath. "Estelle... What did he do to you?" His voice cracked on the last word. "Please, princess. Please... tell me."

"He... He didn't do anything," she sniffed. "But I-I knew what he wanted. He wanted... m-my body to... to..."

"Stop," Tony growled. He fought the urge to put on the suit and search the whole planet for that sorry son of a bitch. Hell, he would search the whole universe if he had to. "He's dead to me."

* * *

"Thanks for this, Uncle Bruce," Estelle said as she calibrated the repulsers on her suit. "I needed to take my mind off everything."

Bruce turned from his computer and smiled at her. "No problem sweetheart. Working always helps me think about other things."

Estelle nodded. "Thanks for roaring last night. You got... him... to get out."

The doctor smiled wider. "I didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Your father," he said as he adjusted the logarithm calculator, "used a recording of The Other Guy to frighten Loki." He noticed the way Estelle shivered at the simple mentioning of his name. "Did I ever tell you about the last time he had an encounter with The Other Guy?" When Estelle shook her head, Bruce smirked. "He had been cornered by The Other Guy. And The Other Guy had grabbed his legs and flung him over His head and into the floor multiple times. Like a ragdoll."

Estelle laughed. "Really?! That's fantastic! You're fantastic, Uncle Bruce."

"Well thank you," he said. "But it wasn't me. It was Him."

Estelle sighed and turned around. "Uncle Bruce, you really shouldn't think of you and Him as two separate people. You're really the same person. The same great person."

Bruce shook his head. "Stella, you don't understand. He's just destruction and death. He has no heart."

"No he's not and yes he does," Estelle shot back. "Look, Uncle Bruce, I know that he... you, saved Daddy when he was falling from the portal in The Battle Of Manhattan. Sure you smashed some stuff, and maybe you hurt some people and killed some aliens, but you saved him and restarted his heart. If that's not having a heart, I don't know what is."

"Stella..."

"Nope." She said with a smile. "You're a good guy. Don't even try to say you aren't."

"No, Stella. Thanks," Bruce replied. "You're just like your father, you know. He's one of the only people who can make me feel... worth something."

Estelle smiled. "You deserve to feel like you're worth everything."

* * *

"Right behind you, Tasha! Three more!" Tony warned.

A week later, Loki had not shown his face. But that didn't stop a group of barbarous aliens from showing their ugly faces.

The Black Widow spun and fired three rounds from each of her guns. Two bullets met the heads of each of the wolf-creatures. They were massive, four-legged, hairless beasts the size of public buses. The three that had tried to sneak up on Natasha gave squealing howls of pain before dropping dead to the ground, blue blood leaking from the bullet wounds in their skulls.

"Where are these things coming from?" Steve yelled as he hit one with his shield. "We can't fend them off forever!"

"They don't seem to have a central point of entry from what I can see," Clint said as he scanned from a high building. He launched an explosive-tipped arrow at a group on 44th street. "They just seem to pop up out of nowhere!" A bolt of lightning surged up 42nd and killed all the wolf-creatures that were coming from that direction. Thor turned and swung Mjölnir at the one that jumped from the balcony of the building opposite. The Hulk gave a mighty roar and killed six before being tackled by two from behind. He threw them off and pummeled them with his huge green fists.

"I'll scout around, see if I can find a place," Estelle said, jetting through the streets and hitting the occasional wolf-creature with an amped up repulser beam. She spiraled through the underground tunnels, where a pack of at least twenty had just sprung from. Finding nothing, she flew up out of the stairwell on the other side, around several buildings, and then up 51st. "You were right Clint, these things are just popping up from—" She screamed as a wolf-creature jumped into the air and landed on her. "Damn thing!" She yelled and punched a hole straight through its shoulder. They both fell to the ground and Estelle shot it with a beam of white-hot energy from her left palm.

"You okay, Estelle?" Steve's worried tone sounded in her helmet.

"Fine. One just took me by surprise." She launched herself back into the air.

"Good. For a m—ment we th—ght y—u —ad g— —..." The Captain's voice chopped up and faded altogether.

Estelle landed on top of the nearest building. "Steve? Steve are you there? Tasha! Clint! Hello? Fury? Agent Hill? HELLO?! Daddy! Can anyone hear me?" She looked at the readout figures in her helmet. Everything was off that charts and failing. "JARVIS, can you get in touch with Daddy?" The AI was silent. Only static. "JARVIS! _JARVIS!"_ She yelled. Estelle wrenched off her helmet and spoke directly into the microphone. "HELLO?! Avengers, can you hear me?! Anyone?! Can ANYONE hear me at all?!"

"Of course someone can hear you, dear heart."

Estelle gave a strangled gasp and dropped her helmet. She didn't even notice as it fell off the side of the building and onto the street below. With horror rising in her throat like bile, she whipped around. Once again, there he stood. There, clad in full battle armor, in all his glory, with his horned helmet on and fully elongated staff in hand, was Loki.

Estelle charged up the highest repulse beam she could muster and pointed both palms at the twisted god. "Don't even think about getting near me, Reindeer Games." He visibly grimaced at the name. She smirked. "You've got to get better with this genetics thing. Remember who you're talking to and who her father is. It's first grade, Magic Man."

"And what do you plan to do with those hands of yours?" Loki asked simply, nodding at her palms. He kept walking slowly towards her.

"Blast you to kingdom come, of course!" She barked as she tried very desperately to hide her fear.

Loki smiled. God, how that smile made her want to run away screaming. But she stood her ground. He was only a few feet away now. "Go on then, Daughter of Stark," he hissed. "Do it."

"You asked for it!" She let the blasts loose. But nothing happened. They merely sparked and shut down. "What the..?" Estelle looked at her palms in confusion. The whole suit seemed to be powering down. Even the arc reactor was losing its glow (Estelle didn't have a shrapnel-trying-to-make-its-way-to-the-heart injury, so her father simply built a reactor into her suit).

Loki laughed: a cold, cruel sound. "Having troubles?"

"You did this." She hissed at him. "You son of a bitch... What did you do to my suit?!"

"I am, how should I say, conserving energy," he was only three feet away now. "What with the difficult times Earth has fallen upon and the repulsive state of your economy, no one can afford to waste electricity. Even an heiress such as yourself shouldn't leave all the lights on."

"Stay away from me," Estelle ordered, backing away and raising her fists. Natasha and Clint had been gracious enough to teach her a few tricks. "I'm warning you!"

"Oh please spare me, Daughter of Stark," Loki drawled. "We both know that you stand no chance against me. Speaking of standing," he noted, nodding towards her feet. "I would watch where I was going if I were you."

She looked behind her and saw that she had no more room to spare. The wind whistled over the buildings and sent her loose hair fluttering around her. "I could fly away," she said. "Did you forget that I have a suit of armor that can fly, Magic Man?"

"And did you forget, Daughter of Stark, that I disabled your flying armor?" He raised his staff as the tip and her arc reactor glowed electric blue. "I would not recommend jumping any time soon." He threw back his head, closed his eyes and smelled the air as another gust of wind whipped through her hair. "You have the most divine scent," he whispered. When he opened his eyes again, Estelle saw that gleam. That hungry, primitive expression. "How wonderful you must feel." He was suddenly right beside her, his arm around her waist and his lips inches from hers. "Fret not, Daughter of Stark. I will send my regards to your father for his most gracious gift."

"G-Gift...?" She stammered. "what are you talking about? What gift?"

Loki smiled and gazed at her with that lusty emerald stare. "You, of course, my dear."

And with a sound like a cracking whip and a flash of blue light, he and Estelle vanished from the top of the building. The wolf-creatures all fell to the ground, dead. The battle was won.

The Avengers searched up and down New York City for her. But all that was found of Estelle Stark was her broken, mangled helmet at the base of Stark Tower. Her father turned the mask over in his hands, tears of sorrow, hatred and rage falling down his face. He looked up at the side of the tower and shouted a wordless cry of fury.

Written in elegant script in dripping red were the simple words:

_She belongs to me._

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Shit just got real. Tony's about to kill some bitches. But seriously guys! A two-in-one day! How epic is this?!_ :D_ Please review and tell me what you thought! Oh, and answer this question if you please:_ **What would you like to see happen next in the story?**

_Thanks very much and I'll see you guys in a few days. _:3

_Cheers,_

_M_


	4. Three: Lost and Broken

_**A/N:**__ So I finally tried the Doritos Locos Taco__ for the first time at the one in the morning two days ago. And sweet __eight pound, six ounce, newborn baby Jesus __(Talladega Nights, anyone?) that was... that was a good taco. Whoever invented that taco needs a medal. And a raise. Now._

_Here's how we stand as of now: 7 followers, 6 reviews, 1 favorite._

_You guys kick some major ass. _:D_ Chapter three UP!_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Three – Lost and Broken

For one of the first times, there was complete silence in Stark Tower. Pepper had locked herself in her and Tony's room and didn't come out for anything. Bruce had taken the quickest flight out of the country the moment he found out what happened. Natasha and Clint had been training and sparring to keep their minds off of the problem and were resting now, seated on the couch and staring into space. Steve had barely moved from his seat at the kitchen table, living off a diet of coffee and orange-flavored tic-tac's for the past two days. He finally moved and went out to take a walk. Thor had gone back to Asgard to talk with Heimdall, the all-seeing, all-hearing sentry of the now destroyed bifröst bridge.

Tony couldn't sit still. He was pacing and running about the lab, searching every bit of data he could get his hands on for some sort of information on the whereabouts of his only daughter. Sleeping and eating were things of the past. He was going to find her, dammit. He stopped and leaned over the keyboard of the main computer and didn't move from that spot for several minutes.

The only sound that echoed through the Tower now was the dry sobs of a man. A man broken right down the middle. A man lost in a world of newfound pain.

* * *

When her feet touched the ground, Estelle fought the urge to vomit. She dropped to her knees and covered her mouth, breathing quickly and heavily. "What did...? What did you do?" She hissed through clenched teeth.

"I merely transported us to another location," Loki's sneering voice made Estelle feel even more ill. "It is, shall we say, your new home."

Estelle made to punch him, but she fell back to the floor, unable to find the strength to move. She looked around. The walls were gray and barren, devoid of any life. A bed covered in a beige blanket sat in the far corner and there was a door way that led to a small bathroom: a toilet and sink. Upon further inspection of her person, Estelle realized she wasn't wearing her armor. Just the unitard that she wore under it. The braid she had put her long brown hair in was coming out and small threads of her hair fell in her face. She looked up at Loki, who was still dressed in his full battle armor.

"What have you done with my suit?" She asked.

"I have simply removed it using a bit of magic," Loki replied loftily, examining his staff and picking a speck of dirt off the tip. "It is stored in a safe, secure place where you cannot reach it."

Estelle stood shakily. "What are you planning to do with me? Hold me for ransom?"

"I must say, Daughter of Stark, you did quite well with the teleportation," he fixed his piercing green eyes on her. "I half-expected you to vomit."

"I just about did, Reindeer Games," she replied in a clipped tone. She found a small amount of pleasure when he flinched slightly at the name. "And please don't change the subject. What are you planning?"

"Must I have a plan?" Loki asked almost innocently as he made his battle armor fade away. It was replaced by the tunic-like garment that she had first seen him in. His staff shrunk down to almost half its size and his helmet disappeared into thin air.

Estelle marveled at the magic only for a moment before shooting back, "Yes! Bad guys always have plans! You're a bad guy! Ergo, you have a plan!"

"But what if I'm not the bad guy?"

She gaped at him. "Not the—? Are you completely insane?! That was rhetorical!" She snapped when she saw him getting ready to answer. "Of course you're the bad guy! You've killed hundreds of people and destroyed things just because you can."

Loki seemed to consider her words. "If I recall correctly, you told one Dr. Bruce Banner that just because he kills and destroys, he is not the quote-on-quote, 'bad guy.' Quite the contrary, actually. You said that he was the good guy. That he had heart. That he deserved to feel like he was worth everything," a smile crossed his lips. The one that sent shivers down Estelle's spine. "Does that not apply to me?"

"No, actually. It doesn't," Estelle snapped. "You kill and destroy for fun. Uncle Bruce does those things because he's fighting for something he believes in. We all do. All of the Avengers," she glared daggers at Loki. "You listen in on private conversations in ways that I don't want to know how. That was supposed to be between Uncle Bruce and me, no one else. But I guess you just feel that everything is about you. You're selfish and crave attention. You're nothing but destruction and death. You're nothing like us."

"Oh but I am," Loki said in a low voice. He snaked over to Estelle, pinning her against the wall with one arm and holding her wrist with the other. "I am exactly like you. You fight for something you believe in, you said? Well I do the same thing. But I believe that I hold what is right. I see your side to be wrong," his emerald eyes searched her body up and down. "Right and wrong, my dear, are not clearly defined. They are mere points of perspective."

"You're sick," Estelle hissed, avoiding looking directly into his eyes. Fear was coursing through her like a drug. "You're a sick, twisted... _thing_ trying to get inside my head."

Loki's gleaming predator-like smile was inches from her face. "Oh no, Estelle Stark," he whispered, placing his lips against her cheek bone. She froze in shock at how cold he was. Like ice. "I am not attempting to get inside your head," he pulled her closer to him and she felt her own body temperature drop as he ran his long, pale fingers against her head and neck, "I am already in your head." The voice was nearly inaudible, but Estelle heard it loud and clear. She wanted to scream and cry. He was everywhere and yet nowhere. His eyes were watching from every corner. She couldn't escape.

Suddenly, Estelle dropped to the ground, her body cold and her mind racing. She looked up and saw Loki standing above her. As he stooped down to her level, she flinched away from him. The Cheshire grin she feared returned and two tears leaked from her eyes. He saw them both and plucked them away with his finger. The expression on his face was one of pure insanity and hunger. Shadows danced off his high cheekbones and framed his face in darkness. He looked like a wild animal.

"Did you know that a cat does not kill its food as soon as it catches it, Estelle Stark?" He whispered in a voice that made her feel even more afraid that before. "Instead it plays with the food. Taunts it. Makes it beg for relief," he took her wrists in his hands and pinned them to the wall behind her. His face was inches from hers. "You are so desperate to know what I am going to do? I will break you, Estelle Stark. You will be so far gone that you will beg me to end your life. But I will not grant this request. Instead I will let you heal. Then again I shall break you. And when you beg once more, I shall consider it," his tone dropped into one of menace. His eyes seemed to glow a darker, more disturbing green. "But know this, Estelle Stark," his voice was no more than a growl, dripping with venom. "You will not die until you have been destroyed. I will not kill you until I have toyed with your mind and had my way with your body. You think yourself brave? You will be gone from the moment your mind collapses," his lips grazed hers and she shivered. The Cheshire smile flitted about his face again. "You belong to me, Estelle Stark. You are mine to control and mine to do with as I please. I hope you have no plans to return to your life as it was. You are never going back. You will remain here, with me. Forever."

And in a shimmering cloud of gold, he was gone.

Estelle let out a choked breath and clapped a hand to her face. She shuddered violently and wrapped her arms around herself. Not caring how she looked, she sobbed like a baby until she had no more tears left to shed. And then she fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Sorry that this was such a short chapter, but I have better ones coming. I've worked on this for the better part of two or three days and have had a massive block about the whole thing. I did want to have some major Dark!Loki in this chapter which I'm hoping I did alright with. *hopeful*_

_The only reason I'm getting this up now is because as I was coming home from school this morning, I was in a car accident. I'm fine, the person I hit is fine, the telephone poll I hit after I hit the person is fine. The roads are icy and slick and as I went down a large hill, the car locked up and everything went to shit. I'm shocked out of my mind, but other than that, everything is fine. Well, my car is destroyed, but it should be covered. Otherwise, like I said, everything is okay._ :)

_So aside from all that messiness, here's the third chapter! I hope you guys liked it! Please review! Pretty please! _:3


	5. Four: Destruction of the Body

_**A/N:**__ Here's where things get even more dark. This is either going to be really good or really bad. I like writing dark stuff, don't get me wrong, but I've never written THIS kind of dark before._

_If you noticed, the rating has gone up. That is because of this chapter specifically. Do you see the name of this chapter? It's because I um... I wrote a lemon. It's very vague, but it's still there. I don't like writing these, so you had better just deal with the nasty crap I had to write! Seriously, it's probably really awful and nasty and revolting and I'm going to apologize for that: _

I AM EXTRAORDINARILY SORRY FOR THE HORRIBLE LEMON THAT I WROTE AND MADE YOU READ.

_But in all seriousness, thanks for reading this far guys. _:)_ Love ya lots! xx_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Four – Destruction of the Body

Estelle thought she was going insane. There were no windows in her cell. There was no way for her to tell what time of day it was. Her watch had stopped. She didn't have any clue as to where she was or if she was even on Earth. Knowing Loki, he could've transported her to another dimension and she didn't have the slightest idea. Several times she had gone to the door of her cell and banged on it, hoping to get the attention of a guard. Once she did. He name was Targus and he was human (from what she could tell). He had opened the small slot on the door and demanded to know what she wanted. She told him that she wanted to be set free. He had laughed and said that only his master could grant her freedom.

"_Come with me then!" She insisted. "Set me free and we can get away together! You can't possibly like working for someone so cruel."_

"_What's it to you?" Targus asked harshly, glaring with stormy gray eyes._

"_Don't you want to escape too? We are both technically prisoners, right?"_

_He scoffed. "I am not a prisoner. I am not the one who is trapped in a cage." The slot closed with a clang._

She didn't know how long ago that had happened. Hours? Days? Weeks? Everything was blending together. She couldn't think straight. Maybe that was Loki's goal. Disorient her. Make her mind collapse in on itself. He had said that a cat toyed with its food before killing it. He being the cat and she being the food. He was probably going to mess with her head for weeks before doing anything. And because of her not knowing the time, he could strike at any moment.

That thought hadn't made sleep come easily. So she simply dozed, trying to keep her mind awake and alert. After a while, though, she simply gave up and fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

Estelle was half-asleep when the door to her cell crashed open. She jolted awake and sat up in time to see Loki practically run towards her with a primal look sparkling in his green eyes. As fast as she could, Estelle tried to get away, but Loki pulled her back onto the narrow bed with superhuman strength.

"Get off me! Let me go!" She screamed. Her protests didn't seem to work, no matter how much she wriggled to get out from under his iron-like grip. Loki hovered above her with an inhuman look of lust on his face.

"And what fun would that be?" He asked in a low voice. Then his lips crashed against hers, feeding on her with disgusting want. Estelle thought fast. Loki suddenly let out a yell of pain. He yanked himself away from Estelle and slapped her across the face while holding his bottom lip. "Damn you! Damn you, you little viper! How dare you bite me?!"

Estelle used what time she had bought to wrench free and make for the door that still lay ajar. Then she was falling forwards and onto the cold, hard floor. Loki had climbed from the bed and grabbed her around the middle. "Let me go! Get away from me!" She thrashed and swung at him, but he was just too strong.

Loki picked her up and pinned her to the bed. "Make me," he hissed and ripped away her unitard, then her blue and white undergarments. Estelle thrashed back and forth, but her efforts were in vain. She screamed in pain as he suddenly thrust into her with brutal force. "Oh, you are divine..." he hissed with pleasure.

"Stop it! Stop it, please!" She shrieked. Then she cried out in agony as he began to go faster and faster. No protection, no lubrication, no nothing. It was as if there was a huge piece of sandpaper scrapping against her insides. "Please stop! Someone help me! _Please!"_

"The guards will not respond to you…" Loki whispered in her ear. "You're mine!"

Faster and faster, the pain had become nearly unendurable. She felt a pressure and heat in her chest. Her voice cracked as she continued to scream and cry. His girth was too much for her small opening. It felt as if she were tearing, splitting in half. Then he reached his climax and released into her. Loki dismounted Estelle and wiped the blood off his member.

"Clean yourself up," he ordered, conjuring a bathtub in the small bathroom. "You're a mess," he used magic to put his pants back on and with not another word, Loki left the room with a satisfied smirk and a swagger in his step.

Estelle felt low. Lower than dirt. Blood trickled down the inside of her legs and stained her bed sheets. She crawled off the bed and to the bathroom where she vomited into the newly made bathtub. Wiping the sick off of her face, Estelle curled up on the ground and held her knees to her chest, sobbing and hyperventilating. "D-Daddy…" She cried. "Daddy… H-Help m-m-me…"

It wasn't until what must've been a half an hour later that she washed the vomit from the bottom of the tub, filled it with clean water and got in. Estelle vigorously scrubbed every part of her, trying to remove the hurt and disgusting feelings. But no matter how many times she washed herself, the feeling stayed the same. It was tattooed into her mind and body; there was no hope of getting it off.

Grabbing a huge towel from a stack that had magically appeared, Estelle dried herself off and wrapped the towel around her aching body. She kept it there even after she redressed in the tattered remains of her unitard. Then she curled up in the farthest corner of the room, away from the bed, and once again cried herself to sleep.

* * *

"How long has it been, Stark? How long has it been since you have seen your daughter?

"Two years, seven months, one week and three days."

"How accurate you are! It surprises me that you do not have it down to the seconds," Loki sneered as he held Tony in the air with his mind.

Tony forced a humorless smile. "Well you know me," he said as he tried to flex his armored fingers, "always full of surprises."

"Right you are, Stark," Loki said with a dark grin. "And as you know me, I too, always have a trick up my sleeve." He let Tony fall to the ground before picking him up again and smashing him against a wall. "Do you miss her?" Loki whispered, his eyes glittering. "Do you miss the sound of her voice? The light in her smile? Do you miss the way she spoke to you, called you 'Daddy?' Do you miss her at all, Stark? Or have you now given up all hope of ever finding her again?"

Tony's rage overpowered Loki's mind. He clocked the god right in the jaw. "FUCK YOU!" He screamed. Tony grabbed Loki by the scruff of his collar and drove him up the wall. "Listen to me, you pathetic piece of shit. I will never, _ever_ give up on her," he growled. He closed his hands around Loki's neck and pushed him up further. "I will never stop looking for her, even if I have to search for the rest of my life. I _will_ find her. And then I will make sure that I kill you. I will be sure that you die in agony for what you've done to my family!" He threw the god into the air. Loki skidded across the floor and smashed into the opposite wall. Blood trickled down his forehead and despite the death threat, Loki still laughed.

"Such bold words, Stark," he said, getting to his feet. "But will you uphold your promise, knowing what I've done to her?"

Ice seemed to spread through Tony's body. His fierce expression dropped into one of horror. "What have you done?" He asked hoarsely. "What have you done to my daughter?!" He shouted.

Loki's laugh echoed as he disappeared, Tony shouting after him.

* * *

**A/N:**_ OH GOD I KNOW THAT WAS AWFUL I'M SORRY. Please forgive me; I really just needed to get that out of the way. I knew that I was going to have to write that sooner or later and to do it now would open the door for more plot stuff to emerge later. It was a sacrifice that had to be made. Also, to help me in my story endeavors, I'm begging you on humbled knee:_

**PLEASE REVIEW. PLEASE REVIEW.**

**PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW.**

_I need constructive criticism. _NO._ That does _NOT_ mean flames. That means helpful hints in a gentle, but firm voice. A little guidance would be supremely helpful. Thank you very much! _:)_ I can't tell you how amazing it is to see that people are reading this story! A big shout out to my seventeen readers from __**Italy!**__ You guys and girls are awesome! _:D

_Alright guys, I'll see you in the next few days. _:3 _Don't forget to be awesome~! (Do I have any Nerd Fighters reading?)_


	6. Five: Separation and Reunion

_**A/N:**__ Oh boy guys. Here comes some crazy stuff. I'm just going to shut up and let you read._

_Thanks for reading, following, favoriting and reviewing! xx_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Five – Separation and Reunion

Loki fixed his piercing eyes on the kneeling, cowering figure of Estelle Stark. He had bent her quite far in the time that he had held her captive. But she had not yet broken once. So strong was she, to endure all that he had brought upon her.

He had played all manner of mind games with her. From the most simple: trapping her in an endless labyrinth of mirrors, to the most severe: an elaborate trick that had made her believe she had gone into battle by Loki's side and unknowingly killed her family and friends in the process. When he had made her see that illusion, he thought for sure that she would be broken. But she had not even cracked by a small fraction. In his most desperate hour, Loki had even gone as far as to torture the young woman. But still she remained as unbreakable as a diamond. Thus his patience with Estelle Stark had worn quite thin.

However... He had gotten from her what he had desired.

"Regulus!" Loki called. Estelle's head snapped up and she regarded the god with a look of pure horror. "Come here!" From his right, a guard led a small boy a little over five years old. The boy was pale with inky black hair and blue-green eyes. He looked up at Loki in fear and reverence. Loki stood and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Then he smiled and said simply, "Go to your mother, Regulus."

The boy cracked a smile and dashed down to Estelle. She opened her arms and enveloped Regulus in strong hug, running her fingers through his jet black hair and murmuring softly in his ear. "Don't cry, Mummy," he said, noting her tears, "it's all okay."

"I know, baby, I know," she said. Hastily she wiped the tears off her face in a fruitless effort to appear strong in the eyes of her son.

"You are free, Daughter of Stark. I am sending you back to your realm."

Estelle froze and tried to process what Loki had just said to her. For five and a half years she had waited to hear those words. And now that they had been said and after all that Loki had put her through, Estelle had her doubts.

She stood and looked up at the god, who stood atop a raised platform. "I have a very difficult time believing that," she said icily.

"I may be the God of Lies," Loki returned in the same tone, "but now is one of those rare times when I am speaking nothing but the truth."

"And what of your grand plan to torture me, break me, heal me then break me again? You had plans to kill me, Loki!" Estelle hissed. Regulus looked between the two in shock. "I thought you to be a man of your word?"

"I am." Loki's face twisted into an odd expression. "However, I have decided against bringing about your death." He raised an eyebrow. "Surely you are not objecting this change of mind?"

"Of course not!" Estelle snapped. "I'm just surprised at the sudden change of heart." She held her son closer to her. "When do you plan to send us home?" She asked, quickly changing the subject.

Loki looked confused. "If you would please clarify, Estelle Stark... To whom are you referring when you say 'us'?"

"Regulus and I of course!" She said, clutching the boy's hand.

An amused smiled etched its way onto Loki's face. He laughed and said, "Perhaps I was unclear before. I am sending you and only you back to your Midgardian realm. Regulus must stay here. With me."

"Unacceptable. I won't go anywhere without _my_ son."

Now anger crossed the god's face. He grit his teeth slightly and glared down at her. "In case you have forgotten, Daughter of Stark, he is my son as well."

"How could I forget?!" She demanded, glaring right back at him. "The moment he was born, Regulus's eyes were blood red and his skin was blue. I thought I was freezing to death when I was in labor. As it happened, he took after his _father,"_ she sneered the word, "and is part Jötunn. Gradually though, he came to look like you: pale, thin, dark haired and light-eyed. He even began to show some magic: levitating objects and making things teleport short distances. And despite that every time I look at him I'm reminded of who his father is," she ran her fingers through Regulus's soft hair as she spoke, "I always tell myself that he is also half of me."

"It does not matter!" Loki yelled. Regulus gripped Estelle's hand tighter at the sudden outburst. "What you have to say does not matter to me, Estelle Stark. You have given me what I require, a son. And you have raised him through the first few years of his life in a very commendable manner. For this, I am very grateful." He bowed his head slightly to Estelle, then walked down off the platform and stood directly in front of her and Regulus. "But now it is time that we part ways. I had plans to kill you, yes, but I have changed my mind. Why you have objections to this seems silly, but I do not intend to change my mind to fit your illogical ways. Say your farewells now or forever hold your peace." He kissed her hand, which disgusted her slightly.

She bent down and clutched Regulus to her. "I'll find a way to keep us together," she whispered to him. "We'll get out of this, you and I. I love you Regulus. I love you so much I—"

But before she could finish her sentence, she disappeared in a cloud of gold. "Mummy!" Regulus shouted, reaching for her dissolving form. But he clutched at nothing but thin air. He wheeled around and looked at his father with watery eyes. "Bring her back! Bring my Mummy back!"

"I cannot, my son." Loki said in a fixed voice.

"Why?" Regulus demanded. "Why not?" Tears fell down his face. "If you love her as much as you say—!"

"I do not love her!" Loki shouted, his green eyes glittering with malice.

But this time, Regulus didn't even flinch. He merely gazed up at his father, eyes shining with a wisdom beyond their years. "Yes you do, Father."

* * *

Estelle fell to the ground and breathed deeply. The sound of a glass shattering made her look up—right into the stunned face of Steve Rodgers. The coffee pot he had been holding in his hand now lay on the floor in a million tiny pieces and his socked feet were covered in coffee and broken glass. "E-Estelle?" He asked weakly.

She gave a small smile. "Heya Steve."

"What're you..? How did..?! WHAT?!"

It was at that moment that Estelle realized she was laying on the countertop in the kitchen on the top floor. "Damned Loki." She muttered, "Can't even teleport me onto a soft object." She felt a pull in the pit of her stomach, and then leaned over the sink to empty the contents of her stomach into it.

"Steve, I met to tell you that— AAAAAAHHH!" Estelle looked up and saw for the first time in almost six years, her mother. Who was currently screaming bloody murder. "Estelle?!" She gasped.

"Hi mom," Estelle wiped the sick off her chin. "I'm back."

Pepper turned white as a sheet and then dropped the floor in a dead faint. Steve rushed over to her, fanning her face in a mad rush to rouse her. Estelle got down off the counter an winced when she realized that she had just stepped into broken glass. Clint and Natasha jumped up the stairs—or in Clint's case, down from who knows where—in full battle gear and pointing weapons like nobody's business. They dropped their weapons, however, upon seeing Estelle. Clint wrapped her in a fierce hug and Natasha tried very hard to hide the fact that she was crying tears of joy. Bruce came up several seconds later and dropped his mug of Chai tea. Estelle hugged him tightly, hoping that he wouldn't unleash his inner self upon them due to all the excitement.

"Where's Da— Tony?" She asked, feeling happiest about seeing him. Clint exchanged a nervous glance with Bruce.

"Sweetheart," Bruce said, taking her very thing hand in his, "Tony's been... a little _off_ since you've been away."

"Off?"

"He's gone off the deep end." Clint said bluntly. He had such a way with words.

Estelle looked from person to person. "Where is he now?"

"Where he's been for the last three years, in his lab." Bruce started picking up the pieces of his shattered mug. "The first two years he was everywhere looking for you, but after a run in with Loki, he holed himself away and has barely been out since. To our knowledge at least."

She thought for a moment, staring at Steve who was still trying to wake Pepper up. "I'm going to go down to him."

Clint shook his head. "I don't think that's—"

"Go right ahead, sweetheart," Bruce said. He patted her on the back as she made for the stairs that led down to her father's lab. Bruce looked over at Clint. "What?"

The archer just gave him a look. "Was that really a good idea? To let her go down to him? Just like that?"

"At this point," Bruce said as he tossed his mug pieces in the garbage bin, "that's the best we can do."

* * *

The lights in the lab were very dim. Estelle had to be very careful not to trip as she walked down the stairs. When she reached the door, she entered in her keycode and the door slid open. _"Welcome back, Miss Estelle."_ JARVIS said in his smooth British-accented voice.

She couldn't help but smile at the AI. "Thanks JARVIS."

Her smile dropped from her face as she looked at her father. He stood working on his suit in the far corner of the room, looking very absorbed but very malnourished. Estelle could see his ribs through his white sleeveless shirt and his cheeks were very gaunt. His beard hung in loose tatters and even his eyes had lost their shine.

"Daddy?" She called softly.

Tony turned as smiled as she came towards him apprehensively. "Evening, princess!" He said good-naturedly. "I was just doing some last adjustments on my armor before I turn in for the night. Isn't it past your bed time?"

She was stunned. "D-Daddy, I..."

"It's alright princess, I won't tell Mommy. It'll be our secret." He winked at her and motioned for her to come over. "Come help me with this. I know how much you love to help me with the suit."

Estelle walked over cautiously. "Aren't you surprised to see me?" She asked, still thunderstruck.

"Of course, pumpkin-pie! Why wouldn't I be?"

Then it hit her with full force. Tony hadn't called her that in years. Not since she was six or seven. He had imagined himself a version of her to cope. Now she got what Clint meant. Tony had gone off the deep end a little bit. "Daddy..." She whispered, holding his arm. "I've been away for a while, remember?" He stopped working and looked at her.

"You know what, princess?" He whispered, "I think I'm missing something." He looked back at the Iron Man suit and rubbed his chin. "There is just something staring me in the face with this and I just can't put my finger on it."

"I'm sure you'll get it." Estelle said sadly, knowing that he was talking about something with the suit.

"I know I will," he said. "I always do in the end!" He walked back to his desk and picked up a few tools. Estelle just continued to look at the armor, feeling sadness well in her.

_CLANG._

Estelle turned and saw Tony staring straight ahead, his tools laying on the floor. He whipped around and looked at her. She knew it then. She knew by the look in his eyes. He knew.

"Estelle?" He croaked. His eyes sparkled with tears.

She felt her own tears gush over her eyes and streak down her face. "Hi Daddy." She whispered. Tony rushed over to her and hugged her tightly, shaking as if it were freezing cold. It wasn't until a few seconds had past that Estelle realized that he was sobbing into her shoulder.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ So sorry about the lateness here guys, I've been very busy! I had planned for this to be up earlier today, but I forgot about this brunch that I had with my grandparents and then I got involved with watching Vlogbrothers videos and other such forms of awesomeness. The important thing is that it's up now! Sorry if there's any mistakes. I just sort of finished it and posted it. I'll make edits tomorrow and repost. But for now, yay chapter five! _:D_ This one was fun because new characters, new emotions for our loveable antagonist and Tony gets his daughter back. _

_More stuff next time, guys! I'll see you in a couple of days. _:3_ DFTBA*! xx_

*Don't Forget To Be Awesome, for all you non-nerdfighters who don't know what that means.


	7. Six: Guardian Angels

_**A/N:**__ I just want to take a moment to thank all the people who've reviewed this story thus far: _Woodburncyn, NotWithoutYou, Ally Downey, Barefootbeachbum, Anna-v-w, brigid001, Poptart huntress,_ and two nameless guest reviewers. You have made this story better by the feedback that you gave me and for that, I'm eternally grateful. Got a little Shakespeare in the park there. (DOTH MOTHER KNOW YOU WEAR-ETH HER DRAPES?!) God, Tony's a riot. _XD

_Thanks for everything, guys. _:)_ *hugs* Here's chapter six!_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Six – Guardian Angels

Estelle sat on the couch with Tony and Pepper on either side of her. Pepper cried silently in happiness and sadness as her daughter retold the events of her capture. She gave a horrified gasp when Estelle talked about Loki having his way with her on multiple occasions. Tony didn't say a word. He kept his face very neutral. When she reached the end, Estelle found that she was crying as well, thinking of her son trapped in another world without her.

There was a long silence. Steve was the first to speak. "Next time Loki shows up, I'm going to teach him some lessons on how to properly treat a lady."

"I'll teach him some manners too," Clint growled.

"His education in etiquette is lacking greatly," Natasha said with glittering, determined eyes.

Bruce just focused on keeping his breathing in check. Thor flexed his arms several times. "None of these actions sound like those of my brother," the thunder god said. "He has changed. I am unsure of why he has changed so greatly from the man that I once knew or what has caused him to do so. It is troubling and it fills me with great anger that he has done these things to you, Estelle," Thor shook his head. "If only I had known something..."

"None of you could've been prepared for this," Estelle said. "What happened happened and we can't do a thing about it. No point in mourning over past actions that never were." She clenched and unclenched her fists. "All I know is that I want my son back."

Thor turned to face her directly. "And you said that your son is also Loki's?" When she answered yes, Thor rubbed his chin. "It is quite vexing as to why he would require a son from you. He could have chosen a number of other fine women to sire his child. Not to say that your blood isn't of high degree and quality," he added, dipping his head respectfully, "but what I would like to understand is why he chose you."

"What I want to know is where you were," Bruce put in, his eyes still closed. He was pinching the bridge of his nose and still breathing in a rhythmic way. "Maybe that can give us some insight onto what his plans are. Do you have any idea?" He opened his eyes and seemed to be calmed back down.

"No, I'm sorry," Estelle mumbled apologetically. "All I know is that it wasn't on Earth. He said that he was transporting me 'back to my Midgardian realm.' So wherever we were, it wasn't even in this solar system. From what I understand about realms, at least," she said, looking to Thor, who nodded. "I never saw what was outside though. There were no windows and no clocks. I believe it was a tactic to make me go crazy. Not knowing the time of day messes with your brain."

"I read a study about that, I know what you're talking about," Bruce said. "But why the need to be so tactical about it? Why make you conceive a son for him? What's the point?"

Thor shook his head. "Sometimes, with Loki, there is no point at all. He performs these actions simply because he has the ability to do them."

"What if Regulus is an heir?"

All heads turned to Tony. "An heir?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah. You know, someone to take up his mantle. Continue the family business, so to speak."

"I thought gods were immortal?" Natasha asked, turning to Thor.

The thunder god shrugged. "In truth, that is an unknown. We obtain our long lives by ingesting special foods and drinks. What Stark says could be quite possible. The food and drink of immortality are now unavailable to Loki since he has been banished from Asgard. Most likely, because he is a Jötunn, or a Frost Giant as they are sometimes called, he will die if he does not eat or drink the food of Asgard. Jötunns are not immortal, but they have long lifespans. If Loki is nearing the end of his life, he will feel it coming upon him. But I know my brother. He fears death and will want to continue his ways of trickery."

"Which would explain why he needs an heir," Tony put in. "He wants to live through his son so that in a way, he is just as immortal as the rest of the Asgardians. The need to conceive a male heir is just traditional, I suppose."

"How long will Regulus live if he's only part Jötunn?" Estelle asked.

Thor thought for a moment. "If I am correct, you son shall live for maybe half of the normal life of a Jötunn male, which could be anywhere from four thousand to five thousand years."

Pepper's jaw hit the ground. "Five thousand—"

"—YEARS?!" Natasha finished for her.

"However you said that he displays qualities of a magician?" Thor thought once more at Estelle's conformation. "That could extend his life to at least seven thousand. It is just a guess, nothing here is truly set into stone," he paced slightly. "However, he could also just have the life span of a mortal human and Loki is unaware of this yet."

Steve ran his hand through his hair. "There are too many 'ifs,' 'yets,' and guesses."

Clint launched an arrow into the air, which stuck fast in the far wall. "We can't even draw one conclusion 'cause we don't know anything!" He growled.

"I agree," Bruce said. He rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly at a loss. "All I can really do is scan you for traces of other extra-terrestrial elements, Estelle. If we can figure out what they are, we can try and get an idea as to where you were. Thor could help us with identifying some of those things."

"And if I am unsure, I know of one who would be able to give insight," Thor said.

"At this point," Steve rose from his seat. "I think we just need to leave the Starks to themselves." The others nodded and left Tony, Pepper and Estelle.

Pepper turned to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her. "Oh baby... I was so worried about you... I thought you w-were gone for good..." She covered her face as fresh tears worked their way to the surface.

"Mom, it's okay, it's okay!" Estelle took her mother's hands in her own. "I'm safe now. I'm home. We're together again." There seemed to be nothing better to do than wrap her hands around Pepper's trembling form. "Please don't cry anymore, Mom. It's okay." Against her own wishes, Estelle felt a few tears slip down her face. "I love you, Mom. I'm home for good now. He can't ever get to me again."

"I know..." Pepper hiccupped. "I'm just so relieved that you're alive. We began to think the worst after a few years. They advanced you in school and graduated you with honors. You were either going to graduate early or with the rest of your class anyway," she smiled. "You take after your father. You got your brains from him."

"Well," Tony said with a small shrug. "Not all from me. Maybe mostly, but not all." That comment earned him a swift slap upside the head from his disgruntled wife. Estelle couldn't help but laugh. She had missed the antics between her parents.

She wiped her tears from her cheeks. "Oh, I missed you two." Estelle sighed and wrapped her arms around her parents. "Whenever things got especially rough, I just thought of you and the other Avengers and I was home. I had an escape. Loki could never take that away. And after I had Regulus, I had an even larger rock to ground myself to."

"Oh baby, I'm so glad that the both of you had each other." Pepper sighed. Tony pulled Estelle closer to him, away from Pepper. She nodded, knowing that the two needed time. She got up and left the room.

"My star princess," Tony murmured. "Oh, Estelle..." Tears leaked from the edges of his eyes and he fought to push them away.

Estelle nestled herself closer to Tony, burying her head in his chest. "Daddy I..." But she couldn't finish. Every tear she had shed while trapped with Loki suddenly welled up in her. She held onto Tony's now very thin frame and she held on for dear life. Wracked by sobs of fear and loss and pain, Estelle cried into her father's shoulder. He held her close to him, feeling her suffering through her cries of sadness. He couldn't even begin to describe his anger towards Loki. The man was a menace. Through her thin shirt, Tony could feel healing cuts. Long, thin cuts that crisscrossed across her back. Disgust rose in his throat like bile. That disgusting man had whipped Estelle. He had harmed his daughter in more ways than sexual. As if rape wasn't bad enough!

Tony pulled his fingers through her hair and whispered in her ear. Telling her loving things and the story of when she was born. "...And when I held you for the first time," he said, "I knew that I'd found my angel. I knew that I had to be your angel, too. I promised you on the day you were born that I was going to be your guardian and your protector. When you were gone..." He fought back tears. "When you were gone, I felt like I had failed. I felt like I had broken my promise to you, Estelle." He caressed her cheek softly with his thumb, just like he had done to lull her to sleep when she was a baby. "Do you know why a father is so protective of his daughter when she's around her boyfriend or fiancée or husband? It's because the father is jealous. He's been his daughter's only man for all her life and he has to realize that he has to let her go eventually.

"You were taken from me, Estelle. I wasn't ready to give you up. I didn't think that I would have to for another ten years, if I was lucky. So when you were gone," he sighed heavily, "I did go a bit crazy. I honestly did go off my rocker a bit. I imagined up a younger version of you to keep myself company. I didn't come out of the lab because that's where you existed for me. That was how I held onto you. And I didn't want to lose you again." He rested his head on top of her head. "I love you, Estelle. With all my heart."

Estelle wiped her tears away. "I love you too, Daddy," she whispered.

"So," Tony inhaled shakily and cleared his throat. "Tell me about my grandson. Tell me about Regulus. Interesting name choice by the way."

"It means 'prince' in Latin," Estelle admitted sheepishly. "It's also one of the largest stars in the constellation Orion. The star Regulus is Orion's right shoulder. I thought it was a name for someone strong and intelligent."

"What does he look like?"

"He... He looks... just like Loki." Estelle felt Tony tense against her. "But his eyes are different, Daddy. They look like mine and Mom's. Not exact, but very close. And he's built like Mom, very thin and limber," she sighed. "He's such a sweet boy. He's five years old, but he's so intelligent. He takes after us." Tony smirked slightly at that. "Regulus is nothing like Loki, Daddy, I promise you that. I taught him just like you and Mom taught me. As far as I'm concerned," Estelle felt her eyes start to flood again, "he doesn't have a father."

Tony felt her begin to shake with silent, repressed sobs. "It's okay, Stella," he said. "It's okay. He'll be fine. If he's anything like you and I, he'll make it through whatever Loki has planned for him. He'll be strong. And if he's anything like your mother, he'll give Loki a verbal lashing and a good slap here and there." Estelle laughed. Tony smiled broadly at his daughter's laugher. His face muscles felt strained and unused; it almost hurt to smile. But it felt so good at the same time. "He'll be alright, Estelle. Regulus and you and Pepper and me, we'll all be okay now. We're going to get him back. And when we do," he ground his teeth, "I'll give Loki a piece of my mind."

"I'll let you do that on one condition Daddy," Estelle said as she felt sleep overpowering her.

"And what's that?"

"Let me nail him in the junk at least once."

Tony laughed. Just as Estelle drifted off she felt her father kiss her head and say: "It's a deal, princess."

* * *

_**A/N:**__ I thought I'd go for a bit of sad fluff here. Well, I guess it can also be happy fluff, but regardless of what emotion, it was still fluffy fluff-ness! _XD_ I'm actually really proud of myself for getting this chapter done and posted, not only in under twenty four hours of the last post but also just as one long chapter. You know, instead of making page breaks every few lines. _

_Anywho! Thanks for sticking with me, guys! This is getting to be very fun indeed!_ ^^_ We're going to see more of Regulus next chapter and what's going on in his world. Loki will also have some emotional moments as well. I just love making him have feels. _:3

_Thanks again guys, and I'll see you soon. xx_


	8. Seven: Transparent Silence

_**A/N:**__ Here's the beef, slick. I'm actually not quite sure about how writing from Loki's POV is going to go. Heck, I'm not even sure how writing from Regulus's POV is going to go. I haven't written from a five-year-old's eyes before. This is either going to go really good or really bad._

_This time, I want to take some time to thank my readers who have favorite the story: _Anna-v-w, BrendaLovesCastiel, Fan-from-you, Gojigirl, Poptart huntress, brigid001, meltedgummybears, _and _Kohanita. _These people are totally awesome! Lots of virtual brownies!_

_And now for some pop (soda, cola, whatever you call it). Anybody for some... Seven up?! (Bad pun, sorry. Yeah, never going to say that again.)_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Seven – Transparent Silence

"_Bring her back! Bring my Mummy back!"_

"_I cannot, my son." _

"_Why? Why not? If you love her as much as you say—!"_

"_I do not love her!" _

"_Yes you do, Father."_

Loki thought on those words later. Love her? Love Estelle Stark?! Preposterous. He had never heard anything so absurd. How was he, a god, to feel anything as repulsive as _love_ for a mortal? He was above such things. He was not Thor. Loki wouldn't dare stoop to such levels. Love? Love a human? Regulus didn't know what he was saying. He was half-human anyhow. The boy's judgment was cluttered by human... things. Yes, that was it.

He stood and mumbled to his guards not to follow him, he needed to take a walk on his own. Loki stepped out of the small complex and into the open air. Ice crystals swirled around his frame, but he did not shiver. His lips became the lightest shade of blue as his Jötunn body adjusted to the cold. He didn't revert back to Frost Giant form, he kept his appearance. The towering ice columns of Jotunheim sparked around him. Loki wished that he didn't have to hide in his true home, he very nearly despised the place. Alas, none of the other eight realms would be of use to him: He was exiled from Asgard; was an outlaw in Midgard; banned from Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Svartalfheim, and Hel; and almost completely unknown in Muspelheim. He had first considered Muspelheim, but as a Frost Giant, the fiery world would suit him ill. Thus, Jotunheim had been his only option. He had hidden his 'lair' far from the gaze of other Frost Giants and had prevented Estelle Stark from seeing where she was hidden.

Even as he gazed onto the beautiful, shimmering ice world, Loki could not appreciate its beauty. There was a feeling that stirred within him. One that he had not felt in many, many years. It was guilt. _Guilt?_ He thought savagely. _What in the name of the Nine Realms do I have to feel guilty for?!_ But his question was answered at the back of his mind. He felt guilt for separating Regulus from his mother. He felt guilt for harming her for five years. He felt guilt for insulting her. He felt guilt for every wrong that he had committed against her. _But why?!_

He thought for a few more moments before he dismissed all of these thoughts entirely.

"My conscience is clear."

A howling wind echoed across the snowscape and seemed to whisper mockingly. His guilt welled up on the cuts of his conscience, joined by another emotion that he doesn't want to regard. He shut his eyes in frustration and growled under his breath, "My conscience is clear." Snow swirled about, and the Frost Giant finally shivered. But it wasn't the cold that bothered him.

* * *

Regulus sat in his room, silent tears falling down his face. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't he be with his Mummy? She needed him! He needed her! And though Father didn't want to admit it, he needed Mummy too. He loved her, Regulus knew he did. Father didn't think that Regulus understood, but he did.

"_Regulus." The boy looked up from his colorful drawing and into the piercing emerald eyes of his father. "Come here." Regulus stood and looked at his mother, who lay sleeping on her bed. "Do not fear me, my son. I will not harm you." Father stood in the doorway, his presence powerful and frightening. Regulus had met his father only twice before and had been awed by the man. He looked up to Father and wanted to be like him. Not exactly, Mummy taught him how to be a good boy, but very similar. _

_Where are we going, Father?_

_He noticed the imploring look on his son's face. "We are just going for a walk, Regulus," Father replied. "Do not fear." They walked all around the hallways, Regulus feeling very intimidated by the men that held big guns. "Do the guards frighten you?" Father asked suddenly. Regulus was silent and didn't look up. He didn't show his fear. But Father knew. "Turn away!" He commanded and the guards turned, confused. "There," Father said, "now they cannot frighten you."_

_Thank you, Father._

"_You're a good boy, Regulus. Despite that your constant silence in my presence is quite... bothersome," Father stopped as they reached a door, "your silence is also a gift." He looked down at Regulus with a fixed look in his eyes. "After going outside, you will be silent. This journey that we are taking did not happen. Your mother must not know where we are. And she must not know what I have told you." His eyes gleamed dangerously. "Have I made myself quite clear?"_

_Very clear, Father._

_Father opened the door and ushered Regulus out. The boy was instantly captivated by the scene before him. Columns of ice and snow built up over thousands of years towered around them. Wide caves yawned from many sides of the mountains. Massive birds of prey circled overhead, searching for any sign of life. Clouds swirled in a blizzard, pushing the winds around the two males that stood outside in it. A thin layer of frost built up on Regulus's exposed arms and face. He caught his reflection in the ice and saw that his skin had begun to turn a vague dusty blue and his light eyes became tinged with red. He gasped and ran from the ice, clutching onto his father's leg. However, his fright escalated once more when he saw his father had become similar in appearance._

"_You are frightened again," Father said. "Do not fear your true self, Regulus. As my son, you must know that I am not of Asgard as your mother might be so inclined to tell you—"_

_I know what you are, Father._

"—_but instead you must know the truth. I am a Frost Giant. A Jötunn that hails from this world that you see before you. This world, named Jotunheim. You have inherited my blood and have become half-Jötunn, half-human." Father stepped closer to the balcony and rested his hands on it. Regulus followed suite, standing on his tip-toes. "In truth, I am not sure if you are able to understand me fully. What I say to you now may have no meaning and I may be entirely wasting my time."_

_I understand you, Father._

_Father was silent for a few moments. Then he said, "Your mother probably speaks ill of me very often. I have done many a terrible thing to her in the past four years. I have found that what I had originally planned for her is now impossible for me even try to attempt. In these past four years I have," Father paused the clear his throat. "I have grown fond of her. But because I have such pride, I will not tell her." His eyes clouded with emotions Regulus had never seen. "The best option that I have is to be separated from her. The more she is here, the more pain it causes me."_

_He looked at his hands and furrowed his brow. "I have done much with these hands, Regulus. It is my belief that once you reach the proper age, I shall take on your education. I will shape you. I will mold you. I will teach you."_

_He fixed his gaze out over the horizon. The sun was low, shining dull light over the snowy land. "I am unsure if the path that I have chosen to move forward on is the best path for everyone involved, but that is not what matters." Father looked over at Regulus, who stared at his face with wide reddish blue-green eyes. "I have never had such feelings for anyone like those I have for your mother," he murmured. "I deeply care for her. I..." Father cast his eyes downward. "I... I care for her as one cares for another whom... whom one simply cannot do without."_

_You love her, Father._

Regulus wiped his tears away and crawled over to the bed. His room had been the one he had once shared with his mother. He grabbed a stack of drawings and pulled them to his chest. Glancing at the doorway, Regulus hoped no one would come in while he was looking at the drawings. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to have them, and he didn't want to risk it.

He carefully leafed through them until he found the one he was looking for. The one he had been drawing the day he had met his father for the third time. Regulus wasn't the best artist, but for a five-year-old, he could be considered moderately exceptional. On the page was a scene he himself had witnessed when his mother was sleeping. With the skills of a mediocre artist, Regulus had drawn his father sitting on his mother's bed. He stared at her as she slept with look of longing and pain in his eyes and held her hand with a careful tenderness.

Ever since he could remember, he had pretended to sleep and watched as every night Father came in, held Mummy's hand for a while and then left the room. Regulus wondered if Father had done it every night even during the times he couldn't remember, too.

"You love her, Father," Regulus whispered.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ I don't want you to fall in love with Loki after reading that, but I would like you to feel a little sympathy. Who knows? I may destroy that sympathy next chapter! I may build on it! You don't know!_ :D _MUAHAHAHA!_

_Anyway guys, thanks for reading! _:3_ PLEASE REVIEW! I don't want to have to beg._


	9. Eight: The Igloo Hypothesis

_**A/N: **__Hey guys, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in a little while. I've been über busy. School has been hectic and crazy and I've had to work a lot lately. Plus I've been trying to pull together some funds for Christmas shopping. Luckily, I already know what I'm getting my girlfriend and I already have it. _;)_ She's gonna love it!_

_Alright, I'm getting off topic. Here we go. Number eight. This one took me a little bit to mull over (which I guess is also part of the reason it's late). I'm not sure how it turned out, but I hope that whatever I did, I did it right! Eight is up!_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Eight – The Igloo Hypothesis

Estelle sat patiently as Bruce scanned her over for traces of extra-terrestrial matter. Thor stood nearby, waiting to help. Each test was more lengthy and tedious than the next, and Bruce's patience seemed to be wearing thin. He put down his scanner and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is absurd," he muttered. "I can't find anything remotely otherworldly on you."

"I wasn't allowed outside," Estelle said in a calming voice. She had noticed a vein jump in her uncle's forehead several seconds before. "Maybe if you configured it to look for elements that are not in the exterior..."

"I'm scanning on all fields," Bruce replied. "It should pick up anything, even if it—" He stopped and thought for a moment. "Wait..." He turned to Thor. "Regulus."

"Doctor, I think it best you take leave for the rest of the day," the thunder god said in a deeply concerned voice. "Your mind is against you. I am Thor, recall it?"

The young doctor waved his hand and shook his head. "No, no, no, I'm talking about Regulus. He's half-Jötunn, right?" Thor and Estelle nodded. "So his skin," Bruce's excitement seemed to shine through his smile, "is adapted to keep him warm while shutting out outside air, right?"

"I would imagine so."

Bruce's smile grew, if possible, wider. "Excellent! That's what I was hoping for!" He dashed to his computer and began entering lines of code. "If I'm correct, Jötunn skin acts like an igloo. It's a house made of ice and snow, people who live in snowy climates year 'round build them," he added at Thor's confused look. "It keeps them warm and shuts out the wind."

"I am confused, Doctor." Thor announced. "If the home is constructed from ice, would it not be much colder to be within its walls?"

"You would think so," Bruce said, wagging his finger at the god, "but it actually insulates the body heat of the inhabitants and keeps it trapped inside. Now, I'm not the expert on Jötunn anatomy, but if I'm correct, then like an igloo owner, a Jötunn has an internal fire of sorts that keeps he or she warm?"

"You would be correct in assuming this, Doctor Banner. I was required by my father to know the anatomy of the giants, should we ever do battle with them again. Father emphasized greatly on the structure of the Frost Giants." Thor cleared his throat. "The internal fire is correct, as you have said. It is a sort of power source as well, acting similar to a human heart and positioned in the abdomen. While the Frost Giants also possess hearts, the heart is encased in a bone structure called the tranchic arc. It is made of solid bone and sits in the center of the chest. It surrounds the heart and protects it, as a Frost Giant's heart is tiny and weak." The god crossed his arms. "I do not understand what you hope to gain from this information, though, Doctor."

"Of course! Stupid, stupid me!" Bruce muttered as a small smile crossed his lips. He pressed 'Enter' and picked up his scanner again, focusing solely on Estelle's hands. "I was scanning for _almost_ everything. What I wasn't scanning for were minute crystalline molecular structures! By amping up my scanning just a bit more, I'll be able to pick up fragments of Regulus's skin cells. If my hypothesis is correct, then his skin will be made of small crystals, like ice is and—" His face lit up when the computer bleeped. He dashed over and looked at the return data. "I was right!" Bruce crowed. "It looks like unlike you, Regulus went out of the place you were in, Estelle. It's giving me a location! It's... Um, er... Here, Thor, come here. How do you pronounce this word? I don't read whatever language this is."

Thor walked over and stared at the screen. Then his face drained of all color. His mouth opened and closed several times and he made a small gasping noise. Estelle was forcfully reminded of a fish on dry land. "Well?" She demanded. "What is it, what did the scanner find?"

* * *

Thor stood in front of the rest of the Avengers (who had assembled comfortably on the couches in the living room) and shook his head. "I will give my brother the victory for this one. I would never have expected him to take Estelle there." He crossed his arms and looked very grave. "Loki had held her captive in another realm, just as we suspected. He held her in Jotunheim, the realm he truly hails from." Some of them looked confused. Thor continued, "As I have previously said, Loki is not my brother by blood. He is a Frost Giant. Though because he was raised in an environment outside of his realm, he took on the appearance on an Asgardian. The Frost Giants hail from Jotunheim. Hence the name Jötunn." The thunder god shook his shaggy head. "What vexes me so is why Loki would go to Jotunheim. He harbors a strong hate for the place, despite it being his place of birth. He had tried to destroy the entire realm before he was cast into the bifröst."

"Well, you answered your own question, actually," Natasha pointed out. "You didn't expect him to take Estelle there."

"There are eight other realms to which he could have taken her." Thor thought for a moment and counted off on his fingers. "Actually, six others. Asgard and Midgard are realms that he is either banished from or is a fugitive. But regardless, he had six others in which to choose from. Why Jotunheim?"

"I've got a better question," Tony growled. "Why the hell aren't we getting up and storming over there right now and getting my daughter's son back?"

"Because Loki's a crafty son-of-a-bitch who'd no doubt expect an attack at any moment and therefore would have people with huge ass guns patrolling all over the place," Clint's bluntness never failed to silence the room.

Thor cleared his throat. "Well, yes, that..." He rubbed his forearm awkwardly. "That and the fact that I cannot transport all of you to Jotunheim, my friends. The cold is crippling to even the strongest of gods. To humans, I fear that you might freeze into a solid block of ice the moment you arrive."

"It's a good way to pass the time, but it's not very much fun." Steve put in dryly. Clint snickered.

"What if I put a heating device in my suit?" Tony asked. "Would I be able to come with you then?"

Thor gave him a confused look. "Do you intend to build a fire within your armor, Stark? I would advise against it if you did." Tony rolled his eyes. "But I'm sure that as long as you kept your fire burning I think that you would be safe. I cannot make any promises, however."

"Then I want to come too," Estelle stood, face and mind set.

"No," Tony stood, "and there will be nothing more to say about it!" He added seeing his daughter getting ready to protest. "Your armor was returned with you but almost completely destroyed. Even if we did manage to get it running again and in the fastest way we could, it would still take months to rebuild. You are not coming, Estelle. That's final."

* * *

After a few heated debates, Estelle gave up trying to convince her father. It didn't matter that she was twenty-three years old, he had said, he wasn't going to risk losing her again. While Estelle saw the logic in this, she didn't like that she had to stay behind. Tony stayed up all night preparing his suit for the journey to Asgard and then to Jotunheim. Thor estimated that the journey would take at least four days, possibly more, depending upon how quickly they could locate Loki.

"The computer can give us a ball-park range of where he might be," Bruce had said, "but it will only put you within a twenty mile radius."

Early the following morning, Thor and Tony stood on top of Stark Tower. They looked grim, but determined. After bidding their farewells, Thor and Tony each grabbed a handle of the Tesseract case (Thor had brought it from Asgard) and turned it. In a flash of blue light and a whirr of energy, the two men disappeared into the morning sky, bound for a new one.

No one looked away from that spot for quite some time. "What now?" Estelle asked.

"Well," Steve said with a fixed expression, "on the eve of war, the home front does what it can to support the troops. We should prepare for the worst. Granted, the worst probably won't happen," he added at Pepper and Estelle's horrified expressions. "But it never hurts to be over-prepared. Now we simply have to do the hardest thing. Wait."

"They'll be fine," Pepper said, her shaking voice betrayed her however. "I know they will."

* * *

{...three years pass...}

Far away, during the dead of winter in the distant realm of Jotunheim, two figures crossed the snowy, frozen land. One of the figures leaned heavily on the other, who pulled him through the snow towards a cave in the nearest mountain. The sun had not risen for two months and would not again for another three. There was nothing but darkness around the two, save the flickering blue-white light that emitted from one. They crossed the threshold of the cave and collapsed onto the ground. The one in battered armor and a tattered red cape threw a large hammer across the cave and pulled his companion farther in to shield him from the cold wind that whipped across the land. He attempted to rouse the man in the metal armor, but he would not stir. The light embedded in his chest gave another weak flicker before its light was extinguished completely.

And so the darkness of winter enveloped Jotunheim once more.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Oooooh, baby! I've been waiting to cliff you guys for a while now! And here you go! _:D_ How d'ya like THEM apples?! _

_I'm not going to be able to update this weekend to my knowledge. I have work... and a date. _:3_ So you guys will either have to wait until Monday afternoon or late Sunday night/very early Monday morning for the next chapter. _^^

_Love you all, please don't throw things at me. *looks pointedly over my glasses at ArtyLou*_


	10. Nine: Return to Me

_**A/N: **__Before y'all go crazy on me, I have an excuse in the form of two words: Food. Poisoning. _

_Yup. I've been sick out of my brains for the past three days and have had no time to get anywhere with this. If I had tried, I'm sure I would've puked on my computer. That's not a good thing. So, here it is, a day late, but work with me people. I've been puking my guts up for two days straight. Now with that lovely image in your heads, here's chapter nine! _:D

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Nine – Return to Me

Thor felt what color was left drain from his face. He looked at the small circle of light on Tony's chest. It had flickered into darkness. He knew what that meant. Quickly, Thor summoned Mjölnir and shot a bolt of lightning into the ground several feet away. There was a massive explosion and a jet of heat. Thor reached out and captured some of that heat in his hands. Literally. He rubbed his hands together, creating more heat, and placed them on Tony's chest plates.

"Return to this world, Man of Iron..." Thor muttered, now sweating from the heat that was building in the cave. "Return to this life. Your family is in need of you. You cannot leave them now."

A voice echoed somewhere in Tony's mind. He couldn't quite place who it belonged to... Everything was bright and his limbs felt weighted. He suddenly was quite aware of a blinding pain in his chest. In his heart, to be precise. Then it hit. Oh god. He was going into cardiac arrest. The Arc Reactor had shut off. He was going to die. Right here. Right now. In a frozen wasteland millions of miles away from his wife and daughter. Then he felt a searing heat flow into his body. It was spreading quickly and burning. Oh god, his skin was on fire! The pain of cardiac arrest left him as a bright blue-white light filled his vision.

Tony screamed as the metal of his suit burned into his skin. The Arc Reactor blazed to life and filled the cave with light. The burning sensation faded quickly as an unbearable cold set in once more. He sat up and looked at the screens in his helmet. The lights flickered feebly. It seemed that warding off that giant ice monster by putting all power to the hand repulsor beams had drained his power. It had made it too hard for the suit to power everything, so it shut off the heating device. Damn thing. Tony switched the power to the heater and felt his suit warm his chilled limbs.

Thor let out a breath. "For a moment, Man of Iron, I thought that you had departed this world." The god looked strained and fearful.

"No worries, Point Break," Tony replied. "Can't get rid of me that easily." He looked around the cave and out to the dark expanses of Jotunheim. "So. What now?"

"I am unsure." Thor admitted with a sigh. "I hadn't thought that Dr. Banner's calculations would be so far askew, nor did he. According to him, he underestimated the sheer size of Jotunheim and didn't make a certain calculation." The god's eyebrows furrowed together sullenly. "It was some sort of human witchcraft I still do not fully understand. But Dr. Banner said that we were placed onto the entire wrong side of Jotunheim. As of now, it's all a matter of getting there. Then we may begin our search for the son of your daughter."

"The fact that communications with anyone were knocked out a year and a half ago doesn't help either," Tony grumbled. "Have you tried your weird god-telepathic thing with your dad?"

Thor nodded solemnly. "On many an occasion, Man of Iron. I tried to call to him when we were struggling through the snow to reach this cave. But I could not hear him, not even a whisper." Thor followed Tony's gaze and looked out to the darkness. "All that we can hope to do now is continue our search and hope that fortune smiles upon us." He almost doubted it, but he had to remain confident, despite that everything was falling apart. "But until such a time arises, I fear that we are quite on our own."

* * *

"It's been too long," Pepper hissed with wide, almost hysterical eyes. "Too long. We haven't had any word for almost two years. They kept contact all those days for a while, telling us how close they were getting and then suddenly, it's like they don't even exist anymore! They said they'd be gone a few days! _It's been three and a half years!"_ She burst into tears.

Steve put his arm around her. Everything was falling apart. He had tried to console Pepper on multiple occasions, but nothing was helping. She was a mess. "We've gotta keep our heads high, Pepper," he said in a comforting voice. "We can't afford to lose hope now."

She just snuggled closer to him, crying and muttering. "I-I can't d-do this, St-Steve. I c-can't take th-this! I've b-b-been suffering f-for so long! M-My daught-ter taken from m-me and now my husband... I... I j-just can't do it!" She buried her face in his shoulder and squeezed his torso in her arms. "I should've... should've told him not... not to go!" She hiccupped. "What i-if the Arc Re-Reactor shut down b-because of... of the c-cold?" She looked into Steve's blue eyes with her own. His heart sank at how wild and terrified they looked. "Oh, god, Steve! W-What if he's...! He's...!" She dissolved again into a fit of tears. Steve took the slim woman in his arms and held her close.

"Pepper, Pepper, please calm down," he murmured. "They'll be fine. They'll be okay. I know how harsh ice can be," Pepper gave a weak laugh at that, "but I know that Thor and Tony are much, much stronger than me. They'll find Regulus, kick Loki's ass, and bring the boy back safe and sound. Okay?" He put a finger under her chin and made her look up at him. "Hey? Okay? We'll all get through this. I promise. It'll be alright." But at this point, he wasn't so sure.

And then he was.

A blinding flash of light lit up the living room. Two figures fell to the ground and moaned.

"Tony!" Pepper cried and rushed to him. She wrapped her arms around his metal neck and sobbed into his shoulder. "Oh, g-god, Tony! I thought... I thought...!"

Tony took off his helmet and took his wife in his arms, kissing her with sweet passion. "I know babe, I know..." He murmured. "I thought I'd never see you again. We couldn't contact you because the cold froze my circuits. Thor isn't sure why he couldn't contact his father, but it's because of Thor that I'm still alive. The Arc Reactor froze up and I nearly died." Pepper squeaked in horror and clutched him closer. "Easy, Pepper, easy. Let me go take off my suit." He got to his feet and walked down to the lab.

Thor fixed Pepper with a serious, albeit weary stare. "Summon the others. They will need to hear of our endeavors." Pepper nodded and wiped the tears from her face as she walked over to JARVIS's closest control panel. The thunder god shed his armor, which disappeared in another flash, this one not as blinding.

Steve looked at him with a grim expression. "I take it that because you only have two people with you, you didn't find Regulus, did you?" The thunder god turned away, shame and sorrow reflected on his face.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Oooooh! A minor cliff-hanger! Again, I'm really sorry for lateness, but I was really sick. I know this is was an abnormally short chapter, but don't you worry. As you read this, I'm already hard at work on completing another chapter. That one should be up quite soon. Before the day is out, to be precise! _XD_ Please review guys! I want to hear what you have to say about this story!_ :) _I'll see you in a few hours._


	11. Ten: Confessions of a God

_**A/N: **__Here you go guys! _:D _I hope this will somewhat make up for my absence. Here's the next chapter right away! I know that you like it when I do quick updates. This is what happened while Pepper was being consoled by Steve and Tony and Thor returned. So without further ado, here's the old, 1-2! Chapter ten is up!_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Ten – Confessions of a God

Estelle stood on the top floor of Stark Tower. On the balcony from her room, to be exact. She gazed over the rooftops of New York City feeling very lost indeed. She hadn't said much for quite a while. In fact, she had barely said anything since they had lost contact with her father. Everything was falling apart. Her world was collapsing around her and she could do nothing to stop it.

_Shit. Not again._

Spots began dancing on her eyes as she began hyperventilating. She couldn't force herself to calm down. Estelle gripped the railing and her knees wobbled. She tried to focus, tried to think, but now her hearing was fading. She was going to pass out at any second. Blackness closed in on her vision and her knees buckled. She was about to hit the ground in a dead faint when a pair of arms caught her.

A strange voice whispered calming words in her ear as the arms carried her to her bed. Her eyes were still clouded with darkness and she still couldn't hear very well and it frightened her. The person whom the voice and arms belonged to brought her closer to its chest, still whispering and running its fingers through her hair. Such a comforting feeling...

"...going to be fine, Estelle..."

_No! _She knew that voice. Estelle tried to move away, but his arms held fast. She had no strength anyway.

"Please, Estelle, you are going to be alright." Loki's green eyes shimmered into focus. But there was something different about them. They seemed softer, sadder. "Don't leave me, Estelle."

"This... your... your fault..." She gasped. It was surprising to see that he looked genuinely hurt by her words. Surprising, but satisfying.

"Yes," he said. "I know this is my doing. I am ashamed to admit that it is."

_Okay, what?_ Now Estelle was really confused. _What the hell is he talking about?_

"At first, I had planned to kill you after you had given birth to Regulus," Loki said. "I had another woman ready to care for him in your place. It was my original plan and I was going to do it. But..." He hesitated and looked away. "But I did not account for certain... factors that would arise. I was foolish to think that I was immune to these factors, because had I accounted for them, maybe I would have carried out my original course of action." He cast his jade eyes back to her. "It was difficult for me, to send you away. But it was necessary for—" He stopped, nervousness flitting about his features.

"Necessary f... for what?" Estelle asked. Her breathing was returning.

Loki suddenly looked quite uncomfortable. He got off the bed and stood away from Estelle, his back to her and his beautiful eyes downcast.

_Wait, what?!_ She thought, horrified. _When did his eyes become beautiful? When did that man become anything but my worst nightmare?_

"I..." For once, Loki seemed lost for words. But that soon faded: "I could not be around you any longer. It caused me physical pain." He fixed his eyes on the floor. "My heart would seize up when I saw you," he ran his fingers over his heart as he said it, "I felt like I could not breathe, my head would spin and my thought process would become muddled." Estelle felt her breath hitch. No. He's lying. He couldn't mean what she thought he meant. Could he? "And the longer I was in your presence, the more the feeling grew. After a time, I began to feel confused. I was conflicted as to what I was feeling. It... It frightened me, Estelle." He turned back to her, his eyes glittering with moisture. "I was frightened of being around you knowing that I would feel those things. So I... So I sent you away. I sent you away so I wouldn't have to be so pained." He turned to look out the window and ran his fingers through his hair. Estelle felt a longing for him to do that again to her. It had felt so nice; his long, cool fingers running along her skull—

_WHAT?!_ She screamed in her mind. She forced her expression to remain neutral._ What the fuck am I thinking?!_

"But after you were gone," Loki continued, "I felt my feelings grow tenfold. They caused me mental pain as well as physical pain. After many years of thinking about it, I... I then deduced that I simply had to see you again," he turned to her. "I had to see you one last time, as closure. I had to tell you... everything. Then I swore to myself that I would never look upon you again." Loki's expression was so destroyed that Estelle almost felt sympathy for the god.

Almost.

"I... I could scream for help." She rasped.

An almost disappointed expression crossed his face. "Go on, then," he said. There was not even a trace of a sneer in his voice as he said it. "Do it."

She was silent. "Why did you need to see me again?"

"I have told you already. Closure."

Estelle shook her head. "No, Loki," she said, locking eyes with him. Ocean blue to forest green. "Tell me the truth." Now it was his turn to be silent. He seemed to be at war with himself as he pondered. And as Estelle looked at him, she saw not a frustrated man, but a conflicted child. It seemed like he wanted to say what he was thinking, but he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth and do it. She wanted to know what he was thinking, wanted to know if what she thought he was saying was true.

"I..." The word seemed frozen in the air. His gaze was imploring and frightened.

"Yes?"

"It was... I do not understand how..."

"Tell me."

"I cannot."

"Please, Loki."

"I am sorry."

"It's alright."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"Estelle..."

It was only then that they both realized how close they were to one another. He had made his way over to her and now sat right next to her, his hand hovering near hers. "Forgive me," he said. He drew away, his high cheekbones lightly touched with blush. But only ever so lightly. "I was..."

But Loki didn't finish. Because Estelle pulled him back to her. And she kissed him. Right on the lips. She felt his icy lips against hers and shivered. It wasn't the kiss she remembered from all those years ago. Then, he was hungry and feral and evil. Now, he was frightened and unsure and oh, so lonely. Something had changed in him. Guilt had populated his composure and replaced that lofty, aloof nature. His brittle, frozen heart melted under her powerful, fiery touch. Estelle kissed him and ignored the voice in her head that shrieked at her for kissing the demon that haunted her nightmares. She felt a passion when he kissed her back of such longing and sorrow that her heart ached for him. All those things he had said weren't needed. This moment said enough. She knew why he sent her away now. She understood and felt horrible for him.

"I love you, Estelle Stark." Loki breathed, cupping her face in his hands.

She took his wrists in her hands and looked at him with tears streaming down her face. Tears of confusion, hurt and sympathy. "I know," she whispered.

"Please... Estelle please," he said. Tears brimmed on the cliffs of his eyes. "I am so, so sorry for what I have done. I am so sorry and ashamed for what I did. I have caused you pain and I can never forgive myself for it."

Estelle was so confused. Why did she feel this? What was wrong with her? This man had raped her. He had tortured her for five years. And now she felt sympathetic towards him? Maybe even more than sympathy? Why? Why did she feel this way?

"Do you love me in return?" Estelle's heart seemed to halt. She looked at him with wide eyes and didn't know how to respond. Loki's eyes went wide in horror with the realization of what he had just said. "Wait, no!" He cried. "No, no, no," he muttered. "I am sorry. That... that is too much. I cannot hope to ask that much of you and hope for such imaginary emotions in return." His tone was bitter, dripping with disappointment and self-hatred. "Let me instead begin this way and ask this instead," Loki took her hands in his. At first, she flinched away, but allowed the icy fingers to wrap around her hands. "Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me? Be it even just in the smallest fraction. Any form of forgiveness will satisfy me. Please... Just grant me this one favor, and then I shall disappear from your life for the rest of your days. You will never see nor hear from me again."

Estelle wanted to make time stand still so she could process what she had just heard, done and witnessed. Everything seemed to be happening at once. Forgive him? Forgive Loki for all the terrible things he had done and said to her? Forgive him just because he had come to her begging on humbled knee asking for forgiveness? A part of her shook her head and snarled 'no.' How dare she even _consider_ forgiving the monster that had robbed her of several years of her life and nearly killed her! How dare she even _think_ about granting this nightmarish entity her forgiveness after he had defiled her mind and body and stolen her family from between the gaps of her fingers!

_Why should I?!_

But there was another part felt such sympathy and hurt for Loki that it was almost painful. Yes, he had done those things to her. Yes, he had treated her like dirt. Yes, he had held her captive for five years and then took her son from her for another three and a half. But on the other hand, he had sent her back to her family. Loki had said that he had originally planned to kill her, but after he fell in love with her, he couldn't bring himself to do it. She felt sympathy, yes. But only because she could feel the regret in his words and see the truth of it in his eyes. Estelle knew that deep beneath the snowy façade he had masqueraded behind for hundreds of years, there was a fragile, frightened man with deep green eyes and a wounded heart.

_Why should I not?_

He looked expectantly into her eyes. Estelle felt conflicted beyond anything she had ever experienced.

"Loki..." She began. "I... I just don't know." Waves of hurt and disappointment cascaded from the god in great tidal waves. "I want to forgive you, I really do." Hope found its way into the ocean on a little boat. "But I can't help but contrast everything you've said to your past actions." The boat was dragged under the churning waters and lost.

"So you do not forgive me," Loki said. He withdrew his hands and looked very crestfallen.

"No, no! It's not that I don't," she said quickly, "it's just... I just don't know." His green eyes looked at her with such childish curiosity that her heart melted. Hope crawled onto a life raft and looked desperately for land. "Listen, Loki," she took his hands back in hers, "I respect that you're trying to make amends and I respect that you've told me all this. But this is a lot for me to take in. Not to mention that I kissed you..." She shook her head and gave a small laugh. "I'm still wondering why I did that. I'm so confused and I'm not sure what I should be feeling anymore. On one hand, I want to hate your guts and kick you off the balcony for what you've done to me." Loki looked genuinely frightened as she said it. "But on the other hand, I want to forgive you. I want to tell you that with all my heart. I want to tell you that I feel..." She stopped and looked at him. His eyes had grown wide; hope had spotted land in the distance. "I... I feel..." Tears brimmed in her eyes. "Dammit, I don't know what I feel!" She whimpered. Estelle covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Loki was stupefied and had no idea what he should do to comfort her. "Y-You show up here with y-your huge green eyes a-and tell me th-that you love me and ask for for-forgiveness and I don't know w-what to b-believe or think anym-more!"

Loki took the shaking, crying woman in his arms and held her. She sobbed against him and buried her face in his chest. For a long while, they stayed that way. Wrapped in the arms of the other, letting their emotions swirl around and find their way. "I am sorry I have caused you such emotional distress, Estelle," Loki murmured. "I did not mean for you to be so conflicted." He pried her arms off of him and took her hands in his. "I will let you think on this. When you know what you feel, I will return to you. Until then, please consider what I have told you." He stood and disappeared in a shimmering cloud of gold.

Estelle felt utterly empty. Tears streamed down her face as she stared, transfixed at the spot where Loki had just stood moments before. Suddenly, there were astounded and excited shouts from the floor below. _"Miss Estelle,"_ JARVIS's voice rang over the speaker system in her room. _"Please pardon the intrusion, but your mother has instructed me to tell you that your father and Thor have returned from their journey."_

"Thanks, JARVIS," she replied. She got to her feet and walked out of her room and towards the living room, pondering all that had happened with Loki.

Hope had landed on a deserted island. It lit a smoke signal that clawed up into the atmosphere. Then hope sat calmly on the beach and awaited rescue.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ And now we've caught up to where we left off before. _:)_ I hope this quick 1-2 update made up for my dastardly food poisoning! I seriously loved writing this chapter and I hope it gave you many feels. _^^

_Thanks for reading guys! Please, please, please review! (Even if you already reviewed for this story, I want you to review again! I love hearing from my readers. And that's YOU!)_


	12. Eleven: Jotunheim

_**A/N: **__So. I saw The Hobbit. Holy shit guys. ThAt MoThErFuCkInG mOvIe MaN! It WaS aMaZiNg! _:oD _(Gamzee from Homestuck, anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?)_

_I have a very important announcement about this story, friends. THE END IS NIGH. That's right, _Iron Maiden_ is coming to a close soon. But don't worry! It won't be for another three chapters or so. _:)

_On that note, eleven is primed and ready! I took a little bit to write this because I needed a break. I'm getting absolutely fried this week. I've had musical auditions and callbacks and I've been stressing over those, so bluh. _

_This chapter is about what happened in Jotunheim. And just so you're aware... THERE IS NO IRONTHUNDER HERE. JUST. NO. Tony and Thor are friends! They're bros! You can't ship bros like that. Not cool. Bros are cool. Shipping bros is not cool. The only exception is Science Bros (Tony/Bruce for those of you who don't know). That shit is adorable. _

_Anywho! Chapter eleven, coming at cha!_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Eleven – Jotunheim

Teleportation was really weird. It felt like you were a claustrophobic watermelon being shoved through a baby's tube sock. Breathing was near impossible. When Tony touched down after teleporting from Asgard, he sucked in as much air as he possibly could. He got down on all fours and coughed several times before finally glancing up.

He stood up, in complete awe of what he saw. Jotunheim was beautiful. It reminded him of every movie he'd seen documenting the arctic and Antarctic landscapes. That, and the setting of a science fiction novel. Pillars of ice rose hundreds of feet in the air, rivaling the height of skyscrapers. The Jotunheim sun sat as high as it would rise on the north horizon, casting long shadows across the snowy drifts. Several jagged boulders jutted out of the snow and reached for the fading light in the sky. The biting wind was deflected by Tony's armor, but the wind gauge on the screen said the winds got to be upwards of seventy miles an hour. According to Thor, they would only get worse as the night continued. Tony looked around as he heard, in the distance, the howl of some sort of animal. From the sound of it, it was wither very large or very hungry. Or both.

"Jotunheim nights last for twenty two of your Earth hours, Man of Iron," Thor said. "It will be dark in a few minutes. I suggest that we find shelter so that we may gather our bearings and discuss a plan. I would recommend that you conserve your power. You will need it whence we reach my brother's lair." Tony agreed and shifted all power to the Arc Reactor, heater, and anything not weapon related. (He did, however, put some in reserve for the hand repulsors. You can never be too careful.) They hiked warily through the swirling snow scape. Mountains towered in the distance and ran in a range to their left. Tony spotted a cave in the closest mountain and pointed it out to Thor. The god nodded and flew them to it. It was positioned at the top of a sheer cliff. Tony would love to see some sort of ice monster climb _that._

Once inside, he sat on a large rock and pulled up Bruce's map in his helmet while Thor unrolled a tattered paper map. The positioning matrix took a minute to locate them, but when it did, Tony frowned. "Hey, Thor?"

"What is it?"

"How, um... How's it coming with the paper map?"

Thor sighed and echoed Tony's frown in an even deeper fashion. "Perhaps I am holding the map in the incorrect position," he said. "If I am correct, which I desperately hope that I am not, we are here," he pointed to a long stretch of mountains near the center of the map. "This is very concerning, as we are supposed to be within this area, where we hypothesized Loki would be," he moved his finger across the withered paper and circled a point on the far side of the map. "But I may be wrong. I could be mistaking this mountain range for THAT one. In which case we are right on schedule and—"

"We're not," Tony interrupted with a bitter tone. "My map says that we're here," Tony pointed to the first mountain range on the opposite side of the map. "We're way off."

Thor cursed loudly. "What happened?" He demanded. "My father would not have sent us to the wrong area!"

"Maybe the teleportation went wrong." Tony implied mildly as he shut off the hologram in the helmet. "Regardless, we can't change what happened, we've just gotta work with it." The sun dunked below the horizon and darkness engulfed them. "So what do we do know?"

Thor was silent for a little while. "We make a plan of action. And then we begin walking."

* * *

{...one thousand two hundred and sixteen days later...}

"So... It's been a bit more than three years I think. Something like that. I lost count after a while. Whatever. Anyway, I'm still fishy about the fact that Thor can't contact his dad through their god-telekinesis thingy. Don't ask me why he can't, I'm not the expert on that kind of shit. This whole thing is pissing me off though. I honestly just want to go home. I feel like we've been walking in circles for months. Hell, we probably have! Everything looks the same now. I swear we've passed the same goddamn mountains twelve fucking times.

"Somehow, through all of this, Thor remains optimistic. I don't know if it's an Asgardian thing to be happy during really bad times like this or what, but I—"

Tony stopped recording the voice memo and looked up. He was sitting guard that night. He flicked on the sensory hearing and listened again. Nothing. Maybe it was his imagination... Maybe he had only that he heard—

_GRRROOOOOOOOOHHH!_

He jumped a mile and quickly turned off the sensory. Nope. Not imaginary. He turned to tell Thor about the sound, the roar, but the god was already on his feet, Mjölnir in his hand. Thor crouched and scanned the darkness outside the cave as best he could. Tony put power towards his palm repulsors and tensed. "The roar sounded very close, Man of Iron," Thor said in a low voice.

"D'you know what roared?" Tony asked in the same tone.

Thor shook his head. "I cannot say. It could've been—"

_**GGRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH HH!**_

The roar sounded from right below the cave. Then a dark shape rose up out of the night and shoved an arm into the cave. A huge fist clenched Thor and Tony in a steel grip and wrenched them out of the cave. The blizzard roared outside and the blasting wind hit Tony with full force. He felt the suit try and compromise for the wind resistance, but to no avail. His power was getting dangerously low and he could feel the cold seeping into his suit. Suddenly, Tony's hair stood on end and he tasted ozone. A blast of lightning seared through the air and hit the beast. It released Thor and Tony from its hand and tumbled to the ground with a screech of pain. Tony hit the snow and groaned. He had made a three foot crater in the shape of his body, like a Loony Toons character. He climbed out and looked up at the creature.

In the feeble light his Arc Reactor cast, Tony glimpsed a huge dog-like creature the size of jumbo jet, not counting its tail. It hissed at the god and Tony, revealing very large teeth longer than Tony was tall. Its bright white fur was stained with little spots of dark red and it rippled in the freezing wind. Thick claws gripped into the ice and kept it grounded. The creature's tail swept back and forth in irritation. Tony felt his heart pick up. This thing was not only enormous, but very fast and very deadly.

"That is a Jötunn Wolf!" Thor yelled over the blizzard. "Do not let it howl, it will call more of its pack!"

"How do you think we should do that?" Tony retorted.

"Kill it before it has the chance!"

Simple enough. Tony shot repulsor beams to the Wolf's mouth. The Wolf barked in annoyance and snapped its jaws at Tony. He dodged the Wolf's jaws by mere inches. He fell back onto the snow and jetted to his feet. His power was getting even lower. The cold was really getting in now. Thor shot a net of electricity at the Wolf and knocked it to the ground. Electricity rippled along the Wolf's pelt as it lay on the snow, briefly stunned. Tony leapt forward and launched a large bomb at the Wolf's head. The explosion forced Thor and Tony backwards in a blast of heat and charred body parts. The Wolf's head had exploded. Tony sat up and looked the brain matter oozing from the broken open skull. Nasty. A howl sounded faintly from across the land somewhere.

"Call me crazy," Tony said, "but if my biology is right, wolves travel in packs, right? And where there's one, there's many! So if there was even just one nearby who saw that..." The howl echoed across the air several times. "Then we're in trouble!"

Thor paled and got to his feet. "We must be swift, Man of Iron! Quickly! Run!"

They ran across the Jotunheim snow scape, fear and adrenaline fueling their every step. The pounding of large paws sounded behind them in the rhythm of the hunt. The howling continued, accompanied by barks and snarls. Tony chanced a look behind them. At least three other Wolves were hot on their trail and gaining fast. He grit his teeth and did the stupidest thing he could think of. He grabbed around Thor's waist and launched both of them into the air. His suit blinked red, telling him that it was running low on reserve power. Tony shot several beams at the Wolves to send them packing, then he flew them to the top of an plateau. They were coming in hot and with a sound like a canon, they hit the ground and sent dirt and snow flying into the air. Tony lost his grip on Thor and continued barreling across the ground. He came to rest on his back, completely winded and aching all over. The suit blinked and blared a small siren. The suit was going to shut down at any second.

Thor was suddenly over him. The god's mouth was moving, but Tony couldn't hear anything. The cold was agonizingly climbing all over his body and encasing him in its grip. He felt his eyes slide shut. Tony forced them open again as he realized that Thor was dragging him across the snow and towards a cave. His eyes shut again and he knew no more.

* * *

_Far away, during the dead of winter in the distant realm of Jotunheim, two figures crossed the snowy, frozen land. The sun had not risen for two months and would not again for another three. One of the figures leaned heavily on the other, who pulled him through the snow towards a cave in the nearest mountain. They crossed the threshold of the cave and collapsed onto the ground. The one in battered armor and a tattered red cape pulled his companion farther in to shield him from the cold wind that whipped across the land. He attempted to rouse the man in the metal armor, but he would not stir. The Arc Reactor gave a weak flicker before its light was extinguished completely._

_The darkness of winter enveloped Jotunheim once more._

_Thor felt what color was left drain from his face. He looked at the small circle of light on Tony's chest. It had flickered into darkness. He knew what that meant. Quickly, Thor summoned Mjölnir and shot a bolt of lightning into the ground several feet away. There was a massive explosion and a jet of heat. Thor reached out and captured some of that heat in his hands. Literally. He rubbed his hands together, creating more heat, and placed them on Tony's chest plates. _

"_Return to this world, Man of Iron..." Thor muttered, now sweating from the heat that was building in the cave. "Return to this life. Your family is in need of you. You cannot leave them now."_

_A voice echoed somewhere in Tony's mind. He couldn't quite place who it belonged to... Everything was bright and his limbs felt weighted. He suddenly was quite aware of a blinding pain in his chest. In his heart, to be precise. Then it hit. Oh god. He was going into cardiac arrest. The Arc Reactor had shut off. He was going to die. Right here. Right now. In a frozen wasteland millions of miles away from his wife and daughter. Then he felt a searing heat flow into his body. It was spreading quickly and burning. Oh god, his skin was on fire! The pain of cardiac arrest left him as a bright blue-white light filled his vision. _

_Tony screamed as the metal of his suit burned into his skin. The Arc Reactor blazed to life and filled the cave with light. The burning sensation faded quickly as an unbearable cold set in once more. He sat up and looked at the screens in his helmet. The lights flickered feebly. It seemed that warding off that giant ice monster by putting all power to the hand repulsor beams had drained his power. It had made it too hard for the suit to power everything, so it shut off the heating device. Damn thing. Tony switched the power to the heater and felt his suit warm his chilled limbs._

_Thor let out a breath. "For a moment, Man of Iron, I thought that you had departed this world." The god looked strained and fearful._

"_No worries, Point Break," Tony replied. "Can't get rid of me that easily." He looked around the cave and out to the expanses of Jotunheim. "So. What now?"_

"_I am unsure." Thor admitted with a sigh. "I hadn't thought that Dr. Banner's calculations would be so far askew, nor did he. According to him, he underestimated the sheer size of Jotunheim and didn't make a certain calculation." The god's eyebrows furrowed together sullenly. "It was some sort of human witchcraft I still do not fully understand. But Dr. Banner said that we were placed onto the entire wrong side of Jotunheim. As of now, it's all a matter of getting there. Then we may begin our search for the son of your daughter."_

"_The fact that communications with anyone were knocked out a year and a half ago doesn't help either," Tony grumbled. "Have you tried your weird god-telepathic thing with your dad?"_

_Thor nodded solemnly. "On many an occasion, Man of Iron. I tried to call to him when we were struggling through the snow to reach this cave. But I could not hear him, not even a whisper." Thor looked to the Jotunheim sun. It never rose above the mountain peaks and made the days shorter than those of Earth winters by many hours. "All that we can hope to do now is continue our search and hope that fortune smiles upon us." He almost doubted it, but he had to remain confident, despite that everything was falling apart. "But until such a time arises, I fear that we are quite on our own."_

* * *

Tony and Thor walked slowly and cautiously. They were not only on the lookout for more Jötunn Wolves, but they had to conserve Tony's dwindling suit power. Suddenly, Thor stopped. He looked up and smiled broadly. "Stark! Take hold of my arm!" Tony didn't ask why and didn't have time. Thor grabbed his arm and they suddenly were teleporting through the universe.

They took a breath as they touched down in the living room in Stark Tower.

* * *

"And that's about what happened." Tony finished. "We didn't have any sight of Loki or where he might be hiding in those years..." He sounded very defeated as he said it. "But we searched a lot of the area. We actually looked where we thought he might be and as it turns out, there was absolutely nothing there." He ran his hand through his dark hair, now touched with silver in some places. "I just wish we could've done more with this. We wasted all that time and it was all for nothing."

"Quite the opposite, actually," Clint said. "We now know where he isn't. And judging by this map," he looked at the map from Tony's helmet, "then you've actually narrowed it down by a considerable amount."

"What I want to know is why you could suddenly contact Odin, Thor," Bruce said.

Thor shrugged and said, "I am also at a loss with that, Dr. Banner. The best guess that I may offer is that Loki may have had something to do with it." He crossed his arms and his eyebrows knitted together. "I do not know why he would do this, nor do I know how he would know that we were in Jotunheim to begin with. But a part of me is quite suspicious of my brother. To anger him has become very treacherous. Even more so than before. And that is what troubles me so. What would have caused him to hold his defenses up at an even higher standard than before? What has him so..." Thor broke off, looking at a point behind Tony and Estelle's heads. Everyone turned and saw exactly what the thunder go was looking at.

There was a bubble-like area raised off the floor that seemed to be distorting and folding in on itself. A spark jumped out of it every now and then, sending the lights of the tower flickering.

"What is that?" Natasha asked, reaching for her gun.

Bruce stepped a bit closer. "Wish I knew," he said. "It's brilliantly fascinating, whatever it is." The whatever-it-was then disappeared with a sound like a suction cup coming off a piece of glass. Then they were all suddenly forced backwards onto the floor. Estelle looked up at the thing. Waves of multi-colored energy were cascading off the thing, then it exploded once more. Estelle covered her eyes as a flash of light lit up the whole room.

Smoke curled upwards from the spot on the floor that was now a perfect charred circle. Someone stood there. A boy with raven hair and pale skin. Tendrils of red blood snaked down one side of his head from a large cut where a purpling bruise was beginning to blossom. The boy inhaled sharply and opened his blue-green eyes.

Estelle stood in shock, ignoring the pain that shot through her ankle. She looked at the boy in mystification. "Regulus?" She gasped.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Wow, this was even more late than the last one. _

_To my defense: I was still kinda sick because food poisoning, I had musical auditions (which, I found out today, I bombed horribly), I had school work to do, and then I saw The Hobbit and there was that whole thing with the shooting in Connecticut... For those of you who don't know, some douchebag decided to shoot up an elementary school. The dude killed I think 27 people and I think 14 or more were little kids. Like, six or seven year old little kids. Yeah. Talk about a shithead. What kind of moron shoots kids? _

_Agh, I can't dwell on it though. If you want to pay your respects, you should wear green and white tomorrow (those are the colors of Sandy Hook Elementary). A lot of people did today, but you should also do it tomorrow. Anyway. Thanks for sticking with me guys. I'll see you in a few days. (hearts)_


	13. Twelve: If I Die Young

_**A/N: **__Hey everyone! Happy New Year! Yes, I'm late, I know, I am so, so sorry. But I had holiday stuff I was doing, family visits, as well as being sick again. My immune system is just so good to me, I swear. I had no time to write, and I hope that this chapter will make up for that absence. Anyway, thanks for being patient! This should be a good one, so let's get into this._

_Alrighty! This is the second to last chapter, folks. I know, I'm sad too. But you still have this chapter, the last chapter, and __**maybe**__ an epilogue! How's that for sweet?! _:D

_I do quote a Doctor Who episode in this chapter. Those who know DocWho will know the quote. For those of you who don't, well... I can't say what it is without giving everything away. So deal! I'll tell you what it is at the end._

_Chapter twelve, here we go! _

_(The name of the chapter... Hmm. The name of the chapter is important.)_

* * *

_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Twelve – If I Die Young

Estelle looked at the boy in shock. "Regulus?" She asked again, as it appeared that he hadn't heard her. The boy turned and looked at her. His eyes grew wide and he smiled.

"Mother..." he whispered. Then he collapsed onto the floor. Estelle gave a small squeal and rushed to him, holding the tiny body in her arms with such compassion as if the boy was going to be taken from her again. Regulus didn't move, save his shallow (albeit steady) breathing. Bruce leapt up and helped Estelle and Tony take Regulus down to the lab, where they would care and watch over him. Tony lifted the emaciated child from his daughter's arms and followed his fellow scientist. Pepper and Estelle, holding hands, walked swiftly after the two men. Estelle was in some form of shock and didn't even notice the throbbing in her ankle.

"By the way, Stel," Tony said on the way down, "I noticed that the tracker for the security system went off in your room almost ten minutes before I got back and seconds before Thor and I touched down. It was Loki's energy signature. What happened? Did he come after you? Are you alright?"

Estelle realized that he was referring to the time when Loki had come to her. When they had spoken. When they had kissed. She debated telling the truth about this. She had never lied to her father before. But before she could stop herself... "Nothing happened that I know of," she lied. "I was asleep, see. JARVIS woke me up when Mom told him to." A feeling of shame squirmed within her like a thousand snakes. Tony nodded and rambled about how the tracker was probably out of date and how it was to be expected and how he'd update it later, no worries. Estelle shook her head. "I really don't think you need to, Daddy," she said. "I think it should be fine."

"Nonsense," Tony replied firmly. "I'm updating it whether you like it or not."

"But I feel completely safe, Daddy! I think you need..." But she broke off at the look he gave her. She sighed. She was fighting a losing battle. If her father was anything, he was stubborn and bull-headed to the extreme. He wouldn't give in to this. Especially this. Tony laid his grandson on the examination table and he and Bruce began work. Estelle excused herself from the room and walked through the lower hallways of the lab.

Confliction was returning to her. All the feelings she had felt when she and Loki had kissed were brimming to the surface once more, and she felt like she was going to cry. While she was ecstatic about having her son back, she couldn't have a breakdown in front of everyone and lie again, passing it off as happiness. Her father would know exactly what kind of tears they were anyway and would surely question her about it. That would mean more lies. Estelle shoved her hands through her hair and let out a dry sob. So many lies! Why was she lying? To protect herself? To protect Loki? Did she care about him _that_ much?

"Yes," she answered herself.

Oh god, she had just answered herself. She halted in her tracks and stared at the floor, frozen with realization. Oh god. She _did_ care about him. She _wanted _to protect him from her father. Estelle's heart beat furiously and her head thumped in pain. Everything that had clouded the water cleared only for a moment before new substances tainted it again. This complicated everything. This feeling that she felt, deep in her soul, it called to Loki and wanted him with her every moment of every day. She felt a desperate longing and hurt that he wasn't there with her now, to hold her and sooth her. She walked into the nearest empty room, leaned against the wall and put her face in her hands. No, no... This was all wrong. It went against everything she believed in and had been taught. Loving the enemy was wrong.

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

She didn't think that's what the expression meant at all. But if she wanted it to apply and mean it that way, then dammit, it would.

A rumble shook the whole building. Estelle's head snapped up in alarm. Earthquakes? In New York?! No... Not an earthquake, it was more. It was as if something was howling in rage and realization. White light blinded her and an explosion forced her back against the wall. When she opened her eyes, Loki swooped over her, his emerald eyes glittering like stones.

"What have you done with him?" He hissed in a furious tone.

"Wh-What? Who...?"

"You know exactly who, Estelle Stark," Loki whispered. "Such a fool I was, to trust you." That stung her in ways she didn't think possible. "To think that you were like me... that you understood me!" He gave a hollow laugh. "How wrong I was!"

"No, Loki, I do understand you, I really do. I know why you did the things you did, I understand and I—"

"ENOUGH!" Loki thundered, the building quaking once more with the force of his anger. "You took him back, somehow, Estelle. That wasn't part of the bargain. Our son was to—"

"Get the fuck away from my daughter."

Tony's repulsor beams blasted Loki off his feet and across the room.

"Hmm. Déjà vu," Tony remarked. "Don't worry Estelle, I've got him now. He's not going to—"

"Daddy, stop please!" Estelle begged, trying to put Tony's arm down. "Please don't hurt him!"

Tony looked at his daughter as if she had grown a second head. He growled and glared at Loki, who was on his feet and giving the armored man the same look. "What have you done to her, you sorry piece of shit?" Tony spat. "Got her in one of your mind control games?"

Estelle gave a noise of frustration and went to Loki. "Please, Daddy, please. You can't hurt him. It's not what you think!"

But neither Tony nor Loki paid her mind. "I? Put her under a spell?" Loki laughed. "You are sadly mistaken, Stark. Your daughter acts of her own free will. I have no power over her. Though I will admit..." The god seized her around the waist and pulled her into a furiously passionate kiss. Estelle felt her father's eyes burn into both of them with shock and fury. Loki broke away and looked at Tony with a Cheshire grin stretched across his face. "...she has quite the effect on me."

"Don't touch her again!" Tony roared, his repulsor beams charging to maximum.

"Do you plan to stop me?" Loki sneered with the same smile stretched across his face.

"Please—!"

"Of course."

"I would love to see you try to accomplish that, Man of Iron."

"Oh you don't think I will?!"

"Daddy, stop!"

"I know you will not!"

"Loki don't do this!"

"Estelle get away from him!"

"No, Daddy, listen to me!"

"I have yet to see you accomplish anything, Man of Iron!"

"Shut your mouth if you know what's good for you!"

"You are _weak! _You daughter is _mine!"_

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Tony bellowed.

"And I, you!" Loki shouted.

"NO—!"

Estelle grabbed onto the arm that was holding the staff just as the magic was released and the repulsor was fired. The beams met in the middle of the room and an explosion blew the room apart. Tony was thrown through the window and down to the balcony several floors down. All in all, he was unharmed. Compared to his daughter and the god, that is.

Estelle felt a pain in her body unlike anything she had ever encountered. She lay in the fetal position on the rubble-strewn floor, clutching her body. Loki lay several feet away, shifting slightly and in obvious agony. He turned his head to look at her and was horrified at what he saw. Blood. Warm, red blood was pumping from her stomach at a frightening level. His energy signature was floating about the wound, he could see it. His magic had rebounded. He moved closer to her and hissed at the searing pain that coursed from every part of his body. He felt it throb to a sickening climax as he dragged himself over to the quivering human, a trail of his own blood left in his wake.

The magic had hit both of them.

"E-Estelle..." Loki coughed, sending new spasms through him.

She looked up at him through bleary eyes. "Loki... You're okay..."

"I... I am not," he replied, cringing as he felt his lungs twist in the struggle to keep working. "But fret not, m-my dear..." he put his hand in hers and held it as tightly as his fading strength would allow, "...I know you shall be fine. It will be alright..."

Estelle smirked as a small trickle of blood snaked from the corner of her mouth. "Don't lie to me... Loki..." She managed to say. "This... This is it..."

"No... You can't go..." His eyes stung with a disgusting feeling of sadness. Tears streamed from his eyes and crashed to the floor, mixing with their blood that already churned together. "There are so... so many things I wanted t-to show you..."

"No, Loki..." Estelle whispered as he collapsed next to her, unable to hold himself up any longer. "It's okay. It... It'll be okay. M-Maybe we'll be together, wherever we g-go..." She raised her hand and wiped his tears away. Her eyes were closing as she struggled to breathe. "You... You know... what I w-wish?" She whispered, barely conscience anymore.

Loki felt his own life ebbing. "What is... your wish?" He whispered back.

Estelle drew a long breath. "I wish we... we h-had... more... time..."

His tears fell faster and in greater quantity. "Estelle... I know I don't d-deserve... to be with you..." He said. "But I wanted... to say..." He struggled for air. "To say... that I... I am s-so sorry..." He gasped and sobbed. "I did th-this... I have... k-killed you... It... was my... fault..." Loki felt her squeeze his hand with the little strength that remained in her.

"L-Loki... You h-have to know that I..." she swallowed and forced her eyes to open again. "...I c-care about... y-you too... So... much..." She moved closer to him and pressed her lips softly against his.

When they broke apart, Loki felt his life leaving him at last. "My... dear Estelle. I... do not... deserve... y-you..."

"Yes you do..." She whispered in a barely audible voice. "A-And you are... f-forgiven..." Estelle Stark managed a smile as she held onto Loki and he onto her. "Always... and completely... forgiven..."

Their eyes closed, their hands intertwined, and they exhaled for the last time. Together.

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_**A/N:**__ And there you have it._ :) _That is the chapter you've been waiting for. It's a bit short, but that was all I needed to do with them until next time. I've been trying to work out that last part for days, but I think I finally got it. What do you think? Please leave a review and tell me! Chapter thirteen, the final chapter, will be up ASAP._

_Have fun with these feels until then!_

_Review!_ :D

{The quote, by the way, from Doctor Who was Estelle's last words: "And you are forgiven. Always and completely forgiven."}


	14. Thirteen: What Has Been Taught

_**A/N: **__Here we are. The last chapter. There will be no epilogue. Read on._

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_Iron Maiden  
_Chapter Thirteen – What Has Been Taught

_{Or, as this chapter can alternately been known: "A Note From The Author Concerning The Aftermath Of The Events That You Have Just Read."}  
{But that's a bit long for a chapter title, wouldn't you say?} _

And that is how they were found. Entwined in each other's arms, the god's blood and the human's blood morphing together until they could not be distinguished as separate. It was said the screams of Pepper Stark discovering her daughter's dead body could be heard across the whole of New York City that day. Tony Stark was furious at first at what he saw, but as quickly as the feeling had been established, it morphed into a drowning sorrow from which he could not escape. Clint Barton was squatted down next to the doorframe, his head in his hands. His dry sobs pervaded the air every so often; he was unable to control himself. Natasha Romanov kept Regulus Stark away from the room; the boy had risen from his unconscious state and asked over and over for his mother. The former Russian tried in vain to keep her tears at bay as she held the boy to her body. Regulus couldn't comprehend what was happening. _Mother can't be gone. I only just got here. And Father too? No, it can't be true!_ But the disgusting truth of the matter was that it was true, every bit of it. Bruce Banner sat in a corner and sobbed, unable to do anything else. Thor, upon seeing his adoptive brother's corpse let out a bellow of anguish and fell to his knees, pounding the floor with his fists until they bled. Steve Rodgers held his hand to the thunder god's shoulder in an effort to comfort him, but to no avail. The super soldier could do nothing but stare straight ahead, his blue eyes blank and emotionless. None of them knew how to cope with what had occurred.

Estelle had been a comforting light in the tower. As a lighthouse that guides a boat to safety from a stormy sea with a beacon of hope, so too did the girl come to the aid of all they who had loved her from the day she was born. And just as a candle is swiftly extinguished under a snuffer, Estelle Stark's life had been taken in no mercy. Through the aid of psychic reader from Asgard, the final moments of Estelle and Loki could be seen. The Avengers were then fully aware of what had happened. They were no longer ignorant to any aspect of the lives of the two. Though some of the heroic company were horrified at what they saw, all realized what had killed them in the end. It was not at the hand of her father that Estelle Stark had perished, as originally thought. It was in fact the rebounding energy from Loki's staff that killed them both. Estelle had held onto the staff at the last moment, causing the magic to become confused and run amok. It was to no fault of anyone involved that two people laid dead upon the floor in pools of their own blood.

As this tale has been told, it has revealed the ways in which Estelle Stark and Loki Laufeyson learned their final and most crucial lessons of life.

Estelle learned the value of forgiveness. She was able to look past the façade of the man who fell in love with her and grant him her love in return. Though he put her through situations of toil and strive that made Estelle wish for the end of her own life, she found it in her heart to look beyond the past actions of the people who cause grief to others. In his eyes, she caught a glimpse on many occasion of who he truly was: a sad, frightened man who didn't know his own destiny. Because she knew of the existence of this frail true self Loki kept locked away, Estelle took efforts into coaxing out the shy man that was hidden away in the recesses of the god's mind. And when the true Loki finally took his first breaths of freedom from outside the prison his callous nature, Estelle forgave him. Unconditionally.

Loki was educated in the emotion of love. For nearly all of his life, the god had been scorned and hated by everyone who met him. The only exception to the rule was his adoptive mother, who, even knowing his true lineage, never doubted Loki to be her son. Her love for him never once faulted. And that was how Loki came to first learn of unconditional love. Through the years, however, his heart shrunk and grew black from the sorrows of loneliness he was forced to endure. It was not until he met Estelle Stark that he dusted the cobwebs from the most secluded crevices of his mind, revealing the unconditional love that his mother had taught him so long ago. Despite everything that Estelle and the Avengers put Loki through, his feelings for her did not waver in the slightest. No, they instead magnified to astounding heights. And when Estelle told him that she too loved and cared for him in return, Loki loved her. Unconditionally.

Where was Loki laid to rest? The god was cremated by the eternal fire in Asgard. His ashes were placed in Estelle's casket, where an urn of her ashes also laid. The rest of the full length casket was filled with flowers and mementos given by friends and family. They were buried together, a gift from her mother and father

As for Estelle's grieving parents? They buried their daughter in their family tomb, where her name had first been inscribed in the marble on the day she was born. Tony and Pepper, however, did not even remotely consider that they would outlive their daughter and carve her death date into the stone before they had even reached their fifty-fifth birthdays. They did not believe for a second that the child they had worked so hard for would only be granted twenty six years of life before she was taken from them by a cruel twist of fate. They coped with the loss of their daughter for thirty one more years before Pepper passed away in her sleep. It was rumored that she had been struck down by an aneurism. But the true cause of death is unknown. Tony lived until the ripe age of ninety-three before old age claimed him.

The fates of the other Avengers? Clint Barton and Natasha Romanov were married a year after Estelle's passing and two children: Trent Sebastian and Estelle Anya Barton. Bruce Banner won two Nobel prizes for his distinguished research in minute crystalline structures and gamma radiation. Steve Rodgers rejoined the army and became a four-star general. Thor went back to Asgard and was not seen on Earth unless he was desperately needed. The times between his comings and goings steadily grew to be greater and greater, until at last, the thunder god no longer graced the Midgardian realm with his presence. He devoted himself to the aid of the other realms, ones that didn't cause him painful memories.

And what of Estelle and Loki's son, Regulus? Well, he decided to become an author and he published many successful works. Over the course of his years, though, the half-god often considered his mother and father not only with nostalgic and cheerful fondness, but with great longing as well. It wasn't until in the twilight of his life, when Regulus could truly ponder all of the events that occurred over the years, that he began transcribing the story of his existence and the events that preluded it. It was now only he that recalled these goings-on, and it should be known that the facts recorded here are the complete and perfect truth.

After all...

_Regulus Stark put down his pen after writing the final words of his private and final piece of literature. The elderly man looked up from his work. His eyes glittered with a knowing shine and he flashed a brief smile._

"_Who else could've told you this tale?"_

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_**A/N: **__*finishes typing and stands from the chair on the stage then takes several bows as audience applauds* I bet I just threw several of you for a loop, didn't I?! Yes, the last chapter was short, but it was simply the wrapping up of the final details. I am very pleased to say that I have completed _Iron Maiden_; one of the only multi-stories that exceeds ten chapters that I have finished in the last three years. *bows again as the audience applauds again* Thank you very much, to you, everybody for reading and being a part of this story, I had so much fun and I hope you did too. My next project is unclear, but I may embark on a trip to Middle Earth and follow a young Bilbo Baggins through his very own new and thrilling adventure. *waves hand for quite as applause sounds*_

_If you have any suggestions for future stories that you would like to see from me, please don't hesitate to say so. I want reviews from each and every one of you, being that this is the last chapter! I would love to hear what you thought of the story after reading the entire thing cover-to-cover (in a manner of speaking). _

_Thanks very much for having me. *bows for the last time and exits the stage*_

_All The Best,  
Emmy_


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